Tourniquet
by Kirashound
Summary: Lucifer fell; so did Light. Consumed by Kira, he finds his soulmate in L and takes his own life with the Death Note to save the detective from eventual death at his hands. His only regret; where his soul is bound, they will never meet again. But what if Light were given a second chance at life? What if he was given a chance at redemption by becoming L's guardian angel? Yaoi later.
1. Prologue: Farewell, Light Yagami

**Prologue: Farewell, Light Yagami**

"You are Kira?" L repeated, staring at the caramel haired youth who knelt-or rather who had fallen to his knees in defeat-before him. "Light-kun, why would you admit this to me? I love you, you are my soul mate, but I have always sworn to put the good of the world before myself. I will have to turn you in. Have to have you executed."

"I know what you would have to do," Light spoke slowly, his voice low and sad, "but in this case you do not; I've already taken care of it for you." He produced a notebook, black and no larger than a composition notebook the likes of which one could pick up at the corner store, and handed it over to L who took it and flipped it open to the marked page. **Light Yagami; midnight** was written out in shaking handwriting; it was the only thing written on the stark white page. "The human whose name is written in this notebook will die."

"This…is the source of Kira's powers?" he asked, horrified. If it was true and Light had written down his own name, then why was he still alive and breathing before him? Could it be that this was a false confession illicited by stress? _Please let that be true. _As if reading his mind, Light smiled; a small sad thing made without looking up.

"It isn't midnight yet; I still have a few minutes time to explain." He replied, and L's heart sank yet lower. Five minutes. The only friend he'd ever had, the only other human he'd ever truly loved was going to die in five minutes, and there was nothing that he could do to stop it. "Yes, it is the source of my power. It's the notebook of a Shinigami; his name is Ryuuk, and he dropped it into the human realm because he was bored. Listen to me, L; there are two notebooks. One-mine-is in your hands; when I die, ownership of it will pass to you. The second is Misa's; she gave it up at my command, so there's no use in going after her. She has no memory of being the second Kira. It is buried in the woods, a hundred paces behind her old home. Dig it up; when you find it, burn them both. Destroy Kira forever; make sure that there is nothing left that others could use."

"Why did you do it, Light?"

"I thought I was a God. Thought I was justice. All I ended up proving myself to be was a fool."

"That isn't what I meant," L told him quietly. "Why did you do this? I expected-almost knew-that you were Kira all along. But I fell for you. You'd all but won already. You could have said nothing, gotten rid of me and gone on to realize your goals. So why give it up?"

"Because I'm a monster," Light raised his head at last to look at him and L saw that his beautiful amber eyes were tortured, "but, for now, I still have a heart. I love you L, but I had to choose between my life and yours. I chose yours." From down the hall issued what was and forever would remain to be the worst sound that L had ever heard in his entire life; the old grandfather clock that his guardian, Watari, owned began to toll the first stroke of midnight. Light's eyes widened, his hand going to his chest as he gave a small involuntary yelp of pain.

"No!" L fell to the ground and grabbed the youth's thin body as it sagged to the side and was set upon by the last desperate spasms of death. "Light, please! Stay with me! _Don't go!" I can't lose someone else._ He knew that it was too late, that there was nothing he could do, but it didn't stop him from fighting like Hell for the man that he loved. The man whose life was rapidly draining away. "Light, please! Tell me you'll stay!"

"Ryuu…zaki…"

"Lawliet!" He practically screamed at him. "Light, my name-my real name-is Lawliet!"

"Lawliet," his hand reached up to fist in the front of his white shirt, _I have to die so that you can live. All that I regret is that, where I'm going, I can never meet you. _A single tear slid from the corner of his eyes as his vision began to tunnel and turn dark. "Lawliet…you must…move on." Unable to continue fighting the notebook's power, Light's body relaxed and his eyes closed forever; he died in his lover's arms. _I'm sorry._


	2. Grief

**Chapter One: Greif**

L had cried and cried and cried over the body in his arms until the warmth and the scent and everything that had ever made Light _Light_ was gone. The confession had been taped. Showed to the task force. His Father, disgusted, had forsaken his fallen son to rot. But L wouldn't let him. L had, with all of his considerable wealth, paid for his lover's funeral; as grand an affair as something so horrible could be. A pure wooden coffin with solid gold handles lined with real velvet. Clouds of softly scented white flowers. A lone, tidy grave on a scenic but sheltered over look; a secluded final resting place where he could go and mourn without having to worry that his face would be seen. Word of what Light had done had spread quickly; L was alone in the dim church, the cavernous room lit only by candles and filled with insence smoke; he had no use for beliefs in Gods and Angels and Demons and other figures of mythology that weren't rational and Light had been Shinto, but he'd been raised for much of his life in England and being surrounded by the relatively familiar confines of a church had proved to be at least somewhat comforting. Light's embalmed body lay nestled carefully in the coffin, his hands folded over his stomach and his face arranged into such an expression of peace that it was wholly unbelievable. He lay on his bier in silence, dressed in a pressed and laminated black suit, black tie and black lofers. His silver rolex was still on his wrist. L had cried out all his tears with the body in his arms, and now none remained for him to offer his lover at his funeral.

_I can't remember him like this. _L realized. Light smiling at him mischeviously from beneath the bed where he'd been hiding in an effort to illicit a reaction of fear from L. _I have to remember all those times we spent together. _The horrible moment that Light had gone limp in his arms. _All of our shared memories. _ That day he'd been sick, when Light had refused to leave his bedside and attended to all of his needs, bringing him cake and even rubbing his feet. _All of our happiness. _The warmth of Light's tight body inclosing him on all sides; the look of pleasure/pain on his face and the way he squirmed and keened at the loss of his virginity. _Not this._ Light's once near golden skin painted in a poor attempt to conceal the fact that Death's touch had turned him white as snow._ Never this. _

"Ryuuzaki," the soft voice of his guardian as the old wrinkled hand came down on his shoulder. "The hearse is here; if there's anything you wish to do, do it now. It's time to put young Light to rest."

Nodding sadly, L placed his hand on the other's brow in a final caress; realizing with a start that Light's hair was lying wrong, he ran his fingers through it gently, adjusting it to just the right look of wind-swept elegance that the Youth had always loved. With nothing left to do, he bent over the rim and placed a gentle kiss to the cold and unresponsive lips. "Sleep well, my love. Goodbye, my Light." He stepped away, watching with great sorrow as the workers at the funeral home closed the lid of the coffin and nailed it down before lifting the coffin and beginning to carry it out; L strained violently against his guardian's restraining hand. "No! I don't want to leave him! I can't leave him alone!"

"You don't have to; you may ride with him, L. You don't have to leave Light, just please calm down." Watari soothed, waiting for his ward to compose himself before allowing him to trail after the workers and clamber into the hearse. His spidery, long fingered hand rested possessively on the coffin's lid over where Light's head would be for the whole way there; he looked more than tortured as he watched the box being lowered into the cold damp ground.

_It's winter. I should have given him a blanket. _The thought was irrational; nothing was left of Light but an empty shell that couldn't think or feel, but he clung to the idea that he could as a last desperate anchor to keep himself sane as the soil pattered against the coffin's lid and filled the fresh grave. Light's grave was located on top of a large hill, overlooking the graveyard with a breathtaking view extending as far as the ocean. His grave marker was black and shiny, the words inlaid with gold as well.

Light Yagami

1988 – 2008

With you gone, my world is darkness.

"I can't stay in Japan forever, Light. I don't know why life goes on, I don't know why the sun continues to rise without you, and I wish that I didn't have to be L anymore, wish that I could give it all up to sit here for eternity and stay by your side as you sleep in peace beneath the earth. But I can't." L told the stone quietly. "Soon, very soon, the world will recognize Kira's absence. The end of his reign. Crime, injustice, everything will go back to the way it was before. But, I promise you, every year on the anniversary of the day you gave yourself to me, I will return to this place to see you. Without fail. Even if I have to move Heaven and Earth to do it." He could sense Watari standing behind him at the base of the hill, watching him but saying nothing. The older man could feel his charge's grief like his own; despite what Kira had been, Light had meant the world to L and now he was gone. He wasn't about to pull him away from the place where his lover would lay for eternity before he was ready. The earth grew cold and then colder beneath his bare feet and the thin layer of denim protecting his knees as darkness fell and deepened. Finally, after three hours, the world's three greatest detectives reluctantly detached himself from his fallen lover's side and walked down the hill to where the older man waited.

"You will never get over him, his loss will never stop hurting, but time will make it better L. I promise you."

"It will never get better, just numb." He answered quietly. "Light was my one and only. I will never love again. Everything is cold and grey."

The look on Watari's face made it immediately clear that the man was worried about him. "Let's go home, L. I'll make you something to eat. Perhaps a new case will come up; work should take your mind off of things at least a little."

"Not yet," L said quietly. _'Burn them. Make sure that nothing is left.' _"There's still something that Light wanted me to do. On the way back, we must stop by Misa's old home. It doesn't matter why."

Ever faithful, his guardian didn't question his motives and simply nodded sagely. L curled up in the back of the car, clutching his knees to his chest and watching as the city moved by outside the window. When the old house finally came into view, L got out and went to the back yard; Watari waited in the driver's seat for him to return. _'A hundred paces into the woods.' _98. 99. 100. A large tree rose up before him; kneeling down in a protected space between two of its roots, he began to dig. Within moments his fingers brushed against the lid of a small tin box. Pulling it out, he opened the lid and found another Death Note sitting inside just as Light had said. _'Burn them' _He'd pleaded. _'Make sure that there is nothing left!' _"Kira killed you, Light; you were his final, and most innocent, victim. You needn't have had to worry that I would spare him any mercy." Pulling the other Death Note from where he'd hidden it within his clothes, L set them both back in the little tin box and set them aflame, watching the demonic notebooks curl upon themselves as they were reduced to nothing but ash that was blown away by the wind. _He's gone, Light. It's over. Kira will never claim another victim, thanks to you._ Watari would be worried soon, to the point that he would doubtlessly go looking even while knowing full well L's want for privacy. So he picked himself up off the ground and made his way slowly back to the car, not really seeing what lay before him as they drove home and glided to a stop in the underground garage below the now all but empty Head Quarters. L sank down onto the first piece of furniture that he saw and put his head into his hands; Watari brought him a cart filled with a range of his favorite sweet delights. Cakes and cookies and candies. Half-heartedly, he picked up a plate baring a piece of cheesecake but just as he began to eat it he caught sight of the dish of little red hard candies; Ame Ringo. Apples. _Light._ From that moment onwards, everything he ate tasted like sand.


	3. Don't Believe in Angels

Chapter 2: Don't Believe in Angels

He was dead. Light knew that he was dead even though he couldn't see anything around him or feel his body; the only sensation was that of cold and of floating steadily slowly downwards. Down. Down. Down. This was nothingness? The void? Silent. Still. Dark. Oh so lonely. _Remember why you did this. _He thought. _He's alive. Lawliet is alive because I sacrificed my own life. I'd die a thousand times over, fall from Heaven and burn in Hell if that was what it took to save him._ The sensation of falling stopped abruptly and he opened his eyes; still darkness; he was bound and blindfolded. _What the Hell? _He couldn't see! He couldn't move, paralyzed by some greater power. So Light turned to his other senses. It was still as cold as it had been in the void, so no change there. But there was sound and smell; damp air settling on his already chilled skin, the scent of must and decay filled his lungs like poisonous fumes and the steady_ Drip! Drip! Drip! _Of water from above echoing around the enormous expanse of wherever he was. The ground was cold and hard and uneven. _A cave?_ Just as the thought occurred to him, a thunderous fit of harsh laughter shattered the silence and-had it still been beating-would have stopped his heart from sheer terror. It reminded him vaguely of Ryuuk's laugh, only much older and much more powerful.

"Yagami Light, or should I call you Kira?" it snarled at him. "Human who used the Death Note, you were meant to be condemned to nothingness; your soul twisted by murderous intent and hatred until, alone in the void, you were reborn as one of my Shinigami. But your fate did not unfold as it was meant to; love overcame your hatred, and you killed yourself to save the object of your affection. Such an act of sacrifice belongs neither in nothingness nor in Hell. It is purely born on Heaven; so deep a purity that even the Death Note could not truly sully it. As such, contrary to my desires, I cannot have you and thus I have no use for you." More cackling laughter. "Congradulations, Human. It would seem that, at least in your case, you can still go to Heaven if you kill yourself!" The tattered cloth binding his eyes was gone, but he was still blinded by bright whiteness as he hurtled upwards through a featureless tunnel, no longer paralysed and writhing fruitlessly against whatever force it was that had hold of him. Then, all at once, he came to a jarring stop once more lying on his back. His head was spinning violently, and Light was rather sure that, if he opened his eyes just then, he would-if such a thing were possible for a disembodied soul-hurl. Feeling began to return to his body as warmth once more radiated through his skin, returning it to its former golden color. Hesitantly opening his eyes after a long moment he was confronted with the sight of a cloudless powder blue sky spiraling infinitely above him. What looked like…people were flying through the air-men and woman of all sorts, all dressed in shinning armor and armed with swords, all with varying sorts of beautiful feathered wings flaring from their shoulder blades. Looking down at himself, Light realized that he was wearing a tight fitting white under shirt and a sun bleached button down blue plaid shirt; not quite as formal as his normal clothing, but with the same idea.

_This is…Heaven?_

"You must be the fledgling." _Fwump! _A young man landed beside him, folding his brown and white sparrow wings and flashing him a lopsided grin before thrusting out his hand. "Zachariel."

"Raito…Light. Yagami." He said, reaching out in turn in expectation of a handshake only to be yanked to his feet.

"Micheal and Gabriel want to see you; it's not normal that a case like yours happens, so hurry up!" He took to the air again, leaving Light to stare after in shock. Suddenly seeming to realize his mistake, the Angel-Light was now quite sure that that was what the young man was-made an abrupt mid-air u-turn and landed beside him again. "Sorry," he apologized almost awkwardly. "Like I said, this isn't a normal thing so…I kind of forgot that you don't…you know…have them yet since you're a fledgling and all."

_Them? Fledgling? What in God's name is going on? _Light wondered. "Can you explain to me exactly what's happening?" _I died to save L. I was supposed to rot in the void. Then I end up before the Shinigami King and get sent off to, of all places, Heaven! _

"I can't explain; it's not my place. Micheal and Gabriel want to see you; if you don't come willingly with me, then Raziel will come and drag you! Hurry! Hurry!" For a man who appeared to be around the age of 25 he acted more like an 8 year old; grabbing Light's hand once more in his shockingly strong grip he commenced dragging Light down the grassy hill side towards a shining white city; a castle rose up from the midst of it, making Light stare.

_Is that where God lives? _He wondered. And then another, much more chilling thought crashed into him. _What's going to become of me? With everything that I have done! All the sins that I've committed! I've murdered! I've lusted! I've claimed to be God; heresy! _The city was made of crystal and filled with Humans and Angels of all ages and types from all times, all intermingling in an easy harmony. Everything was peaceful there; there was no such thing as hunger or crime or war. No such thing as racism. It was the picture of the utopia that Light had thought to create upon becoming Kira. The draw bridge was lowered before them to walk across and into the castle they went; in the throne room Light was met with the sight of two figures flanking an empty throne. They were titanic; at least twelve feet tall with a Human body shape and six pairs of shinning pure white wings that seemed to be made of the same crystalline material that the buildings were. To look upon them was blinding, so Light kept his eyes on his feet. Overwhelmed by fear, he fell to his knees. "Please! Mercy! What I did…it was wrong! I see that! I regret it! Whatever you're going to do to me…I beg you…" Gentle hands-more like an energy than solid flesh-slipping beneath his chin to cradle his face, tipping his eyes up to meet him. The glow of power had dimmed somewhat to the point that looking upon it was at least somewhat bearable, but he could still make out no features or definition in the face.

_We know what you fear, Light Yagami. But you needn't worry. No harm, nor any punishment will come to you. We simply wish to explain._ A male voice, deep and powerful, speaking in his mind. _Lucifer was once one of us, but he fell from grace and became the being that is now known as the Shinigami king; he creates his minions-the Shinigami-from the souls of Humans twisted by the use of a Death Note. The moment that you picked it up you were meant to suffer in life and transform in the void, but you changed the course of your fate when you preformed that great act of love. You can never be Human again; your soul is trapped in a state of limbo between mortal and immortal, and we must transform you into a one of us before you begin to unravel. And so you must make a choice._

"A…choice?" Light repeated.

_Your Angelic rank must be decided; as you are not a born Angel, your power can be adjusted to the level that you wish it. You could be anything you desire; a Principality, an Archangel, a Throne, even a Seraphim._

_ The choice…of anything? I could…be truly powerful? A Seraphim…isn't that…what they are? What should I choose? Lawliet, what should I do? I don't know what to do! _L. The man he loved. The man that he had died for. His soul mate. "I can be anything I want?" Light repeated.

_Anything. But you only get one choice._

"I want to be a Guardian."

Silence for a long time, than a buzzing began at the base of his skull which he soon realized was conversation between the two beings. A Guardian Angel; the weakest of all of them, bound to a single Human whom they were condemned to protect until their time to die came. It wasn't a rank at all, it was normally reserved as a punishment. Finally, at long last, the Angel before him returned its eyes to him. _Very well. It has been decided. Light Yagami, Guardian Angel to Lawliet Lawford, I here-by grant you your wings. _


	4. Memories

Chapter 3 – Memories

_Light smiled at him from across the room, a grin that transformed him into the Greek God Pan. He was so beautiful, his skin shinning like gold in the early morning sunlight filtering in through the window, his eyes gleaming like copper and his hair like bronze. L allowed his eyes to travel shamelessly down his unclothed body; the toned chest and flat stomach, the broad shoulders and lithe frame, the surprisingly feminine curves of his hips in stark contrast to his ample manhood; L was one who frowned on such slang terms, but there was simply no way to describe Light other than 'well hung'. A result of good breeding, he supposed._

_ "I find it hard to believe your claims that you're a virgin." He quipped._

_ "I had no interest in such…extra-ciricular activities until I met you." Light responded, moving forward to lie down on his back in the bed. "But if you don't want to do it for me, then I'll just…" trailing off in an almost absent-minded manor, Light spread his legs suggestively and began to touch himself, stroking up and down his length and arching his back, emitting the most deliscious moans that L had ever heard. He felt himself beginning to succumb to the sight as Light neared his completion; unable to take it anymore, he pounced forward and enclosed his length in his soft mouth just in time to capture the other's essence._

Someone was shaking him gently, tearing him out of the warmth of the memory of his lover and back into a cold reality where Light no longer existed. Opening his eyes reluctantly, the dream gone, L found that Watari stood over him with a concerned look on his wrinkled face. "You were moaning in your sleep again." His young charge heard the hidden message there-in; 'you were _sleeping_ again'. L had slept only a handful of times in his life prior to Light's death, and none had been with the bronzed genii beside him. He regretted that immeasureably. His Light had been gone from the world for just over a year by that point-L had been forced to leave Japan only two weeks after burying him to work on other cases-and he was still waiting for that fabled moment where time would magically make things 'get better'. Looking dejectedly over at the calendar on the wall, he felt a hollow pang go through his heart when he noticed the date. It was March 28th.

_Happy birthday, Light. If you'd lived, you'd be 21 today. _"I see him. When I sleep." L slowly admitted to his guardian. "In my memories. In the dream world, I relive the past."

"Can I get you something for breakfast? Cake? Pie?"

"An apple, please." Taking notice of the date as well, Watari nodded and left the room.

Moments later he returned with a large shiny apple in hand.

_ "You know L, you should really eat one of these once in a while." Light chided him gently, leaning against the wall and observing him with those beautiful eyes that he had as he took an enormous bite out of the fruit; clear juice ran down over his thin lips and down his chin as he slowly chewed and swallowed. "An apple a day keeps the doctors away."_

"Oh, Light." Morosely, L began to shuffle out of his room and down the hall of his town house in the English countryside as he nibbled at the fruit. Light had always carried with him the smell and taste of the 'forbidden fruit' of fables in his mouth and on his skin. _I'm eating this because you asked me to. And I will eat one of these for breakfast every 28__th__ of March from now until the day that I die in your honor. _He still missed him so much, and was sure that he always would. Crime had reared its ugly head almost immediately after the world had recognized that Kira's reign had come to an end; that the man behind it all was dead, his crown broken and reign over. The world had rejoiced at the death of a tyrant, not ever truly having known the man behind it all for themselves. Kira's true identity had never been made public to protect the Yagami family from the fallout of it all and L was glad for that; he didn't think that he could bare Light's beautiful, glorious, perfect name slurred any more than it already had been. He didn't want anyone else speaking ill of the dead.

"L, they have arrived to aid us with the situation in the East." Watari said, re-entering the room. There was indeed a situation brewing in the east; a powder keg of truly nuclear proportions capable of erupting into World War 3. And he, L, had to stop it before it did. But he would need the help of his heirs to do so. They all filed in before he could answer Watari; Near with his white skin and white hair and white pagamas clutching a 150,000 piece white puzzle to his chest. Mello, blonde haired and blue eyed and as feminine as ever dressed in leather, dragging his boyfriend-a goggle wearing red haired otaku-behind him by the hand. L winced, remembering with yet another pang the sensation of Light's warm, thin fingered hand in his.

"It's been a long time L," Mello said, leaning all of his weight against Matt and not seeming to notice the pain that the sight was causing the other man. "What's been up with you?"

"A great deal," his voice sounded worn thin even to his own ears. "I will tell you the story, but it is a long one. So you must first sit down."

"If it causes you such pain, then you don't have to relive whatever it is that occurred. Even to us." Surpisingly it was Near who had noticed the other's quiet agony.

"No, you're wrong, I do have to do it. For myself. Because if I don't face what happened…I'll die of a broken heart." _You're dying of one anyway, and the worst part is that you'll never see him again, because you read the rules of the Death Note before you burned it and know where Light's precious soul was condemned to rot forever. _The Human who uses a Death Note can neither go to Heaven nor Hell. "I have no illusion as to the reality that I will never move on, but perhaps if I talk about it than I'll have a slim chance of being able to recover."

"Then talk," Mello ordered, flopping down into Matt's lap. "We're not about to go running off anywhere."

"You, Mello, have already found your soul mate in Matt so the two of you will understand that I am not at all exaggerating when I talk about him."

"Near is the only one who doesn't understand; he doesn't believe in love." Mello snorted, as if it were the same thing as Near not believing that the world was round.

"Love," the white haired boy replied in his own defense, "is a senseless, useless, baseless chemical brain response that defies all logic and reduces even the most intelligent of men to reckless fools."

"It's something that you can't control. It happens to everyone eventually; even you Near." Matt told the younger boy sagely. "And when it does, maybe you'll finally understand."

"The story that I am about to tell you took place during what had to be the most difficult case of my entire life," L began. "Like Near, there was once a time when I did not believe in the concept of a force so all-encompassing that rational thought went out the window and everything in the world would be at total peace if you could just have that person at your side always. That all changed the day that I met and fell in love with Light Yagami. My soul mate, and the man that the entire world knew as Kira."

_The lecture hall in which that had taken the entrance exam was the first place that they had laid eyes on each other directly. Light had been sitting at his desk, diligently plowing through the incredibly thick test book before when the teacher walked towards him from the front; he stiffened. What had he done? Nothing. The teacher moved passed him and he relaxed._

_ "Student # 162, sit properly in your chair!"_

_ 'Sit properly? What an odd violation.' He thought, turning to peer over his shoulder. He was met with the sight of a pale skinned man with black hair and wide black eyes staring back at him, perched in his chair in a rather bird-like maneuver. Something unexplainable-a feeling similar to a bolt of electricity-had zinged through him in that moment. He couldn't focus on what he was doing anymore; every few minutes he found himself glancing over his shoulder again, for some unexplainable reason smitten with the man who he'd never met and didn't know anything about. He'd still passed with a perfect score, and apparently so had his companion. They now sat together, side by side, in the auditorium at the opening ceremony of To-Ho's school year, fellow freshmen reprisentatives. Light had to suppress the strong urge to begin an impromptu footsy match with the strangely barefooted man; peeking at him from beneath his long dark eyelashes he found that he was staring at him unrepentantly in a manner that made his cheeks heat up._

_ "Freshman representative Yagami Light." _

_ He leapt to his feet without dely. "Hai!"_

_ "Freshman representative Ryuuga Hideki." _

_ The other delicately unfurled himself from his chair and stood up as well; there was a pronounced slouch in his posture which reduced his height to be a few inches shorter than Light himself was. "Yes." He sounded bored. As Light moved towards the stage with long sure strides, the other shuffled along behind him; they gave the speech together, Light reading his half before passing it to the other to finish and noticing that he held it gingerly between two long white fingers, his head tilted slightly to the side. Once it was over he gave a polite bow to their audience while 'Hideki Ryuuga' scratched his head absentmindedly, his eyes still locked on him. As they walked off the stage, he finally spoke. "Yagami Light, son of NPA superintendent Yagami Soichiro?"_

_ 'His voice! Like silk and honey!' The mere sound of it made Light feel faint and breathless to the point where he almost fell down the stairs leading down off the stage. _

_ "Your respect and admiration for your Father is matched only by your own personal sense of justice." He continued as they made their way back to their seats and sat down. "You wish to become a police officer once you have graduated; you already have experience as you've helped solve cases for them before, and now you're showing interest in the Kira case?"_

_ He nodded, leaning in so as not to be overheard by anyone nearby. "I am," Light replied, trying the keep his rapidly increasing lust from darkening his voice while crossing his legs to hide his burgeoning problem. "But how would you know that?"_

_ "There is something that I wish to tell you," the other plowed on, not answering his question. "I would like you to now that I am L."_

_ Everything around him but for the other faded away into nothingness as Light's eyes went wide. But it wasn't fear that flashed through him, it was something else entirely. A warm feeling that was unfamiliar and unintelligible to him. 'And I am Light Yagami; Kira is dead.' "If that is true, than you have nothing but my utmost respect and admiration." 'And if you want more, you can have that too.' Suffering from such thoughts made the pale pink blush return to his golden cheeks. _

_ "Thank you," the odd man replied. "Can I ask you to speak with me after the close of this ceremony? Your aid in the Kira case may prove invaluable; after speaking at length with your Father, I have received permission to bring you in on this as a consulting agent. I have some evidence that I would like you to glance over."_

_ Light nodded hurriedly without really thinking it through. "Sure. There's a little diner not far from here; I know a booth there where no one will overhear us talking. Would that work?"_

_ He nodded, bring his thumb to his mouth and biting down gently on the nail; it left him with a thoughtful look and made Light feel like his heart had been inflated with helium to the point where it might pop if he moved the wrong way. "That will be just fine." A few minutes passed before he turned to Light again. "How long until this pointless exercise of introduction is over?" Light didn't know why, but the comment caused him to burst into violent laughter that he managed to bite back into silence but left him with watering eyes and a stich in his side. Leaving the campus grounds after the ceremony was over, Light led L to the both in question at the coffee shop; both ordered drinks-Light got coffee and L got tea, which he loaded full of sugar-and then promptly got to talking._

_ "So, this evidence…?" Light trailed off, trying to focus his mind on the danger of it all but unable to stop drowning in the seemingly endless eyes of the man before him. He just wanted to fall into his arms, to have them wind around his waist and pull him close to kiss him. 'Focus, damn it!' His eyes glazed yet again as L moved his arm in a fluid motion to draw a manila file folder from within the folds of his loose white shirt. _

_ "These," he removed a stack of photographs, "are pictures of cryptic notes that Kira sent to me via the 'suicide notes' of some of his victims. The meaningful messages are highlighted at the top. I'd like you to put them in order, as a sort of test if you will." He set them before Light, who picked them up without missing a beat and spread them out on the table to look at them even though he thought he already knew what they said. __**L do you know, Gods of Death, Love apples **__and __**With red hands. **_

_ 'Red…I didn't…it's a test! That must be it! He wants to see my reaction!' but even that realization didn't snap him out of his state of hormone induced stupification. Staring at L with hooded eyes while pretending to look at the pictures he played about with the false piece of evidence as if trying to find a place to put it. "Apples with…that doesn't make sense. Apples don't have hands. So it must go here." He placed it right after the note that proclaimed __**Gods of Death. **__The new message stated __**L do you know, Gods of Death with red hands love apples. **__"To be honest with you," Light said as he returned his full attention to the object of his baseless affections, "I don't know what to make of this. Gods of Death? Is he referring to himself as a God of Death or is he referring to a Shinigami from the old legends? Does 'red hands' apply to the blood on his hands, or does it mean something else entirely? And is he mentioning apples because of their identity as the 'Forbidden fruit of Eden's Garden' or is there some other motive? Is he truly trying to tell us something, or simply trying to throw us off?" Light could hear Ryuuk snickering in the background, but ignored it. _

_ "I don't think that he is trying to do either," L informed him. "I think that Kira was simply trying to taunt us. Don't you agree, Light?"_

_ The sudden and unauthorized use of Yobisute should have infuriated and offended him, but instead he almost keeled over in a faint; the way his first name sounded when it passed his lips made him feel like he could fly. Hiding the issue beneath crossed legs had now become very difficult and more than a little painful. "Yes," he blushed even more when he realized that he sounded breathless and high pitched, "I agree with you."_

_ "Can I ask you something else?" _

_ "Of course." The next thing he knew the world's greatest detective was beside him, looming far above him with his odd crouch and invading his personal space as he unknowingly sent the younger man into frenzied palpitations; Light's cross-legged posture failed him as he fell heavily against the wall, leaving him almost lying down in the booth so badly flushed that his face was as red as a cherry and revealing the prominent bulge beneath his clothing._

_ "I want to ask you-." L went silent, having caught sight of the secret that the Yagami boy had been desperately trying to hide from him for hours by that point. "I want to ask you-." _'_are you Kira?' Why wouldn't the words come out? "I want to ask you-." 'Ahh fuck it!' Having failed for the third time, he pitched the entirety of the plan and dove in for the guilty pleasure of the sinful pink lips of the other man; they were as soft as they had appeared to be and tasted like the very same fruit that they'd been discussing, but L had very little time to think about that. Light's body was warm and muscular, his skin hairless and supple and soft. Touching him was electric, and the sound of the keen of surprised pleasure that ripped out of him…needless to say that L was very glad for the fact that Light's claim that no one could hear them in that booth had indeed proven true. Light's graceful fingers found purchase in his hair and began to comb through the silky locks; he never let ANYONE, even Watari, touch his hair and yet he didn't want to stop him! It just felt so good. "Are you...Kira….Light!" He finally managed to force out against the other's kiss-bruised mouth. _

_ "No!" He pushed him away, withdrawing; it felt to L as if he'd slapped him. He shouldn't have said anything. Should have just let whatever was happening continue to happen. "Is that what you're trying to do? Use sex as a weapon to get me to make a false confession?" The fact that there was no hurt in the voice should have been a red flag, but L barely noticed._

_ "No, I…I had originally planned to…I don't often, in fact I've never…" L was not used to stuttering. "Do you believe in love at first sight, Light?"_

_ "Hitomebore?" Light repeated, a strange look settling in the depths of his amber eyes. "No, I don't…or at least I didn't. Then I met you."_

_ L felt himself grinning. "Let's go and meet up with the rest of the task force, Light." He said, pulling the other to his feet. "And let's both agree that we will address this later."_

"Wait, wait, wait!" Mello interrupted loudly, drawing L out of a fading memory of Light; the first one that he truly had of him. "So you're trying to tell us that you found your soul mate during the Kira case, and that he ended up _being_ Kira?" L nodded, saying nothing. "You didn't…you know…sleep with him, did you?"

"A few times," came the shameless reply.

"But he was a murderer! He killed thousands! Was using you to clear himself of suspiscion! He would have killed you eventually, L! You're damn lucky that he messed up and got caught before he had the chance to!"

"_Light didn't get caught!" _The anger ripped out of him before he could realize it was even there, let alone make any effort to control it. "He saw what he was becoming. Realised the error of his ways and what would happen if he continued on his path. But he knew he couldn't simply stop acting as Kira and pretend that nothing ever happened. He told me everything, showed me how he killed, begged for my forgiveness. My Light committed suicide with his own power; he died in my arms! He was a good man! A kind man who believed that what he was doing was right! He sacrificed himself to save thousands more lives, including mine, from being claimed by the monster he'd created! Light Yagami was Kira's final victim, and the only one amongst them who was truly innocent!"

"L, that's enough." Watari stepped in between them before L's control could splinter further, resting a calming hand on his shoulder. "Speaking of young Light upsets you too greatly. I must ask that you move on to the task at hand."

"…Of course," taking a few deep breaths to compose himself, L switched topics to the task at hand. "After Kira's fall, the world returned to the way it had been. Wars resumed. Crime resumed. Idolitry resumed. And now the United Nations stands poised to go to war with a new group calling itself Ouroborus; a group of crazed zealots born out of a meeting between Kira's worshipers and other extremists like the Taliban. Their members are many and their methods violent. Worse yet, they claim to not only have a large cache of nuclear weapons but to be bringing about the return of Kira. We have to find and destroy these weapons as well as the Weapon of Kira's Power if they truly do have one, and we must do it quickly. If we fail, the entire world as we know it may go down in flames."

"Now _this_ is what I'm talking about!" Mello crowed happily. "Action! Adventure! Danger! Living on the edge! Count us in!"

_How I miss working with you, Light. How calm you were, always calculated and measured never reckless. _This, he was very sure, was going to be a long investigation indeed. The most pressing question for L at the time was whether what remained of his sanity would survive intact through his long term contact with the devil-may-care blonde.


	5. Watching Over You

Chapter 4: Watching Over You

Light would be lying if he were to say that being back in the city of his birth and life and death didn't give him strange feelings. He sat atop the Tokyo Skytree, the tallest building in the city, staring out at the perfect view surrounding him on all sides as his legs dangled in thin air. It was a chilly spring night; he wore a dark grey cotton coat that formed to his body over a tight fitting white T Shirt and a silver necklace that glinted with a 月 at the end; the Kanji for Moon and the spelling of his first name. Unlike a Shinigami possessing the human owner of their Death Note, he couldn't go trailing after his Human-he had become fiercely protective of L to the point of possessiveness upon becoming a true Angel and did indeed fully consider the detective to be _**HIS**_ human-no matter how much he might want to. He'd been watching over him from afar since his return to awareness four months after his death, and it pained him greatly that he was bound by the chains of the rule that the Guardian Angel of a Human can only appear before that Human if and only if shielding them with their own body becomes necessary as the only way to save them from untimely demise. So he watched from afar, feeling his grief and seeing his misery and wishing that he could go to him and kiss away his tears while knowing that he could not. Light tried to busy himself with other things, not to the point where he forgot L and his place as his protector but at least to the degree where he wouldn't go insane, but very little occupied his time for more than an hour or so. He could _feel_ L, not just his emotions but his being; aether was what the older Angels had called it. The force of life threaded throughout the universe. He could see it around L-it was pale lavender and gilded silver-and, like a Shinigami, could see the number of years that L was meant to have left to him. But he couldn't see the lifespan of anyone else. If danger came near, he would know and he would reach him in time to lend his aid if he needed it no matter how far away that he was. In fact if he'd wanted to he could have remained in Heaven as he performed his duties, but it felt better-more natural to Light-for him to be there in person. With his eagle eyed vision he could see the detailing in the asphalt and the faces of the Humans going about their nightly business even from the height of 2081 feet in the air.

_L is asleep again; those kids wore him out like nothing else. _Light thought, smiling slightly to himself as he felt his lover's contentment with his dreams. _I wonder what it is that he dreams about that makes him so happy. Even sugar doesn't seem to help his sorrow anymore. _Rising to his full height with a heavy sigh, Light cracked his stiff neck and rolled his shoulders. _He'll be safe for a few hours. I may as well go and check in with the others that I left behind. _His parents who had forsaken him. His sister, who didn't know what to think. The task force members-Ide, Aizawa, Mogi and even Matsuda-who thought of him as a monster. They wouldn't be able to see him, touch him or notice his presence unless he wanted them to so going before them would be safe; he wasn't breaking any rules as long as he didn't speak to them. Spreading the wings of a bird of paradise-shimmering iridescent teal feathers glittering in the moonlight-Light dropped from the tower and glided lazily through the cool night air down the familiar street to the house where he had grown up. Passing through the front wall as if it were made of a material no more solid than water, Light tucked away his wings and proceeded up the stairs with silent footsteps. He found his now 17 year old younger sister awake at her desk, studying for the upcoming exams. His parent's bedroom was empty. His had been stripped, all of his things thrown out and the room recycled as a storage space as if he had never existed. Returning downstairs, he found his mother watching TV in the family room. Moving passed where she sat on the couch without being noticed, he went to where their family pictures had been set up. Sorrow swept over him in a drenching wave when he realized that he had been cut out of them all. Every trace of him, of Light Yagami, was gone. His Father wasn't in the house, so Light supposed that he was still at work. Spreading his wings again, he left his childhood home behind and flew across town to the Station House. On the floor of the Special Investigation Taskforce he found that the members of the Kira Case had reassimilated into the Police Force at large; everything truly had gone back to the way it had all been before him. _It was all for nothing. So much needless senseless death. But I have an eternity to make it right, and I will see them all again one day when they come to the life beyond. Hopefully then I'll be able to explain. _

"Matsuda!" He looked up with a small start, paling instinctually at the angry tone in his Father's voice even while knowing he had no clue that he was there. "Where are you going?"

"Oh, I…I need to run out for a little bit. I'll be back in an hour, I promise!" The black haired, brown eyes young man had changed little in the time that had passed since Light had died; he'd cut it shorter to make himself look more mature, but that's all that it was. A look.

"Fine. But if you're not back here in exactly one hour I am going to fire you!" The growling tone made the message of 'you shouldn't even be doing what I know that you're doing but I can't legally stop you' very clear. Intruiged by the possibility of 'naughty' behavior, Light trailed after the young cop feeling rather like Ryuuk what with the way he was floating playfully through the air while wondering exactly how badly a disembodied voice demanding an apple would frighten him. Out of the police station and into the nearby parking lot to slide into his car, unaware of his passenger as he set off through the city to a destination that Light was unsure of. He didn't know exactly what it was that he was expecting; a brothel? An opium den? Not the cemetery where he had been buried, that was for sure.

_He's not going where I think he is….is he? _Surely not. There were hundreds of people buried within its gates, a great deal of them with a mere 6 degrees of separation to both of them; Matsuda knowing at least a few of the unfortunate souls resting beneath the earth was far more likely than him visiting Light's grave, especially considering the fact that the location would have had to have been all but strangled out of L. And yet he passed by all of the neatly positioned stones and began to climb the hill; Light could feel the pull of his earthly remains on him even now that he was no longer Human; the weird sensation that it caused forced him to stop about a yard away from where the foot of the grave began, watching dubiously as the man pulled something out of a small box and set it on a plate before stepping out of Light's way and allowing him to view the small slice of cake that he had no doubt bought from a bakery with a small lit candle on it.

"I know that I'm a few days late, but…Happy Birthday, Light-kun."

_M-Matsuda? That you remembered...that you knew…that you would even think of me after what I've done! _Light was touched to say the least by the young officer's kindness. At least he still had someone other than L who cared for him. _I can't show myself and I can't speak to him. But there has to be some way that I can let him know I recognize what he's doing and that I'm thankful for it. But what? _

"Make a wish, Light-kun."

_That's it! _Forcing himself to move forward despite the grave giving him a bad case of the heebi-jeebies Light got down into all fours and blew out the candle; there was no wind at all at the time, and the fire suddenly going out immediately caught his attention.

"L-Light-kun? Is that…are you really here?" wide eyes staring around in an open shock that made him smile despite it all.

_Sadly, that's the only sign of my presence that I can give you Matsuda. I don't want to go breaking any rules if I can avoid it; I'm sorry, but it looks like I'll have to leave you to figure this one out for yourself. _It was time for him to be getting back. Rising into the air with a powerful down stroke of his wings Light flew swiftly through the city back to the apartment where L and his successors were currently staying. He wandered through the adjoining rooms and, once feeling reasonably sure that no one was awake to stumble in and see him, Light went into the kitchen in search of a little snack.

Mello had woken up in the middle of the night practically dying of thirst. Throwing the covers off him with far more force than was probably necessary, he peeled himself off of the bed in his room and made his way towards the kitchen in pursuit of a glass of water. Moonlight was filtering in through the curtains over the window situated above the sink, and as he took a step into the room he froze dead in his tracks. He wasn't alone. Someone else was there, dressed in casual yet elegant clothing, cavalier in their demeanor and lounging against island with an half-eaten apple in one hand; the young man had an impossibly beautiful face and eyes that shone like pits of molten cold and hair the color of leaves in fall. _Who the hell is this guy and why the hell is he in L's kitchen eating L's food in the middle of the night? _Mello wondered furiously, watching as the youth took another bite of the apple and chewed on it thoughtfully. A thin tongue flicked out to suggestively run across the full pink lips and collect the apple juice that had gathered there. "_Who are you what do you want and why are you here!" _The young man whirled around with a yelp of surprise, dropping the apple in his shock and allowing it to bounce across the floor.

"Kuso! Watashi ga mi rarete kita!" As Mello looked on in utter shock, the man spread _wings_-feathered wings that sprouted from his shoulder blades and glittered with all of the colors of the rainbow and some that he couldn't even name-leapt into the air and vanished through the ceiling.

_"HELP! IT'S A ROBBER-GHOST-ANGEL-THING! THIS HOUSE IS HAUNTED AND IT LIKES APPLES!"_ Multiple pairs of running footsteps hurrying towards him; Matt was first into the kitchen, followed by Watari then L then Near.

"Mello, sweet heart, what's going on?" Matt demanded, shocked by his look of panic.

"I-I thought…I woke up so I went to get water...he was here in the kitchen…he sprouted wings and _disappeared into the ceiling! It's a ghost!"_

"Mello, you're a twit." Near snapped at him.

"I can assure you, Mello, that this apartment is not haunted at all." L's voice was dry. "I think you need to stop eating chocolate before bed; you're hallucinating."

"L," Watari had walked passed Mello into the kitchen and was now holding up the mostly eaten apple by the stem.

"See! It's a Ghost and it likes apples!"

"Are you sure you weren't just sleep eating?" Matt asked him gently.

"_No I wasn't sleep eating! I don't sleep eat or sleep walk! Even if I did, I wouldn't eat some gross disgusting piece of fruit!"_ He snapped angrily. "He said something before he disappeared so I know that I wasn't imagining it!"

"What," Near snirked, "did your ghost say exactly?"

"Kuso washi-blah, blah! I don't know, it was in Japanese!"

"Go to bed! All of you! Now!"

"But-!"

"Watari, lock them in their rooms if you have to!"

"Right away, L." Seeming to recognize that the detective wanted to be left alone, he threw away the remains of the apple before shepherding the three young men out of the room. Once he was gone, L quickly plucked a second apple from the fruit bowl on the counter and held it up to thin air.

"Light," his voice shook when he spoke, "if that…if that really was you…please. Pick it up. Knock it out of my hand. Take a bite of it! Do something to give me a sign that you're here!"

Perched in the bows of the tree outside the kitchen window, Light sighed heavily. _I wish I could, L. I really do. _But he couldn't. He watched as the hope in his eyes that his mistake had cruelly given him died a painful death. L set the apple down with a dejected sigh and shuffled out of the kitchen and back into his bedroom. He dropped off to sleep almost immediately, but the look of misery on his face didn't leave. _Lawliet. Gommenasai. _


	6. Ouroborus

Chapter 5: Ouroborus

"…has been increasing exponentially sense the death of Kira; it would seem that Kira's supporters have become criminals themselves. Yet another example of how low-lifes adjust themselves to the times!" Matsuda was having a great deal of trouble paying attention to the case report that was being given by one of his coworkers who he didn't really know. It had been about a week since the candle had blown itself out after he'd asked his dead friend to make a wish, and he hadn't mentioned it to anyone. But it hadn't left his mind. Was it Light? Was it wind that he'd failed to notice? Had he accidently somehow blow it out himself? Was it a faulty candle?

_It's a pity, really. _He thought, doodling mindlessly on his coffee cup. _You had a dream of making the world better, and you died for that. You died to put an end to crime, but the moment you were gone it all came rushing back. Worse yet, everyone called you monster. But you weren't, were you Light? You can't be a monster-even if you were a murderer-if you died for your true love. Can you? _It didn't fit with Matsuda's belief.

"Matsuda, pull your head out of your ass!" He jumped, refocusing on the world around him and finding Ide looming over his desk. "It's the third time we've tried to get your attention; coffee!"

Yep, he was still the rookie. And that meant he was still the coffee boy. "I'll be back in a little bit." Taking the collected money from the members of the task force, Matsuda got to his feet and made his way out of the station house to the nearest café. As he was standing in line, he was met with the surprising sight of a familiar face. "W-Watari!"

"Mr. Matsuda, L asks that you come with me." The older man said, gesturing for him to follow. "Please, do not ask any questions. Everything will be explained to you in a few moments time." Biting down the stream of questions that wanted to burst forth, Matsuda nodded and followed him out of the café in silence, getting into the back seat of the familiar limosine to find himself face to face with three other unfamiliar people; an enormous man with pale hair and blue eyes, a slight man with dark hair and grey eyes and a young woman with blonde hair and blue eyes.

"Anthony Rester," the enormous man rumbled, reaching out a hand the size of a man-hole cover for Matsuda to shake.

"Stephen Gevanni," the smaller man informed him, doing the same.

"Halle Linder." The woman smiled at him and flipped her hair over her shoulder. "We've all worked with L before. Have you?"

"Touta Matsuda and yes, I have. The Kira case."

"So recently then." Gevanni looked impressed.

"I…yeah, I suppose. Though why L would want me…?"

"It is simple Mr. Matsuda. Young Light Yagami is the reason why; only you were able to look passed the brand of Kira to see the tragedy that was his suicide." Watari informed him. "L has no desire to work with anyone who would slur his lover, though I suggest you mind your words should the topic of Light come to bear. Poor Mello was almost a casualty of L's angered grief." The car glided around a corner and into an underground parking garage. "Rester, Gevanni, Lidner, L is willing to allow you time to rest before he explains the situation to you as he is aware that you have travelled half-way around the world to be here."

"That won't be needed," Lidner said. "We're tougher than that, Watari. We'll last through his explination." The other two nodded in ascent at her words.

"Very well. Follow me; the apartment is on the sixth floor." They followed the old man like a line of ducklings out of the garage and up a series of stairs passed landing after landing to finally enter in through a door. In the sitting room, Matsuda was confronted with the sight of three more unfamiliar people; no older than 19, there was a red haired man in goggles smoking a cigarette while glued to a hand held game, a blonde haired blue eyed…girl, at least he thought it was a girl, who was dressed entirely in leather and devouring an enormous box of dark chocolate and a white haired boy who appeared to be around the age of twelve curled up on the floor putting an entirely blank puzzle together. And then, of course, there was L looking sadder-if that was even possible-than the last time that he had seen him.

"Rester, Gevanni, Lidner, Matsuda, I am glad that you could join myself and my successors Matt, Mello and Near in the attempt at thwarting the terrorist group calling themselves Ouroborus. They claim to be in possession of a Death Note-Matsuda is aware of this item, due to his involvement in the Kira case-along with a host of nuclear weapons. Kira supporters, religious extremists and organized crime figures from around the world have joined together to menace the entire world and now threaten to push the world over the edge into World War 3; if that were to happen I have no doubt that life as we know it would be destroyed." L explained. "There is, according to my network of sources, a base of operations for this group located in Fukuoka. We must find some way to get inside, gather as much information as possible on where the other bases are located throughout the world and what exactly their plans are and then we must foil them before they can go through."

"What do you need us to do?" Gevanni asked.

"We'll be moving our base of operations to Fukuoka later today," L said. "Once there, Gevanni Lidner and Mello are going to begin efforts to infiltrate the Ouroborus operation. Meanwhile, I myself shall be working in the field in an attempt to provoke a reaction from them and perhaps bring them-or at least their Japanese branch-down." Seeming to notice Matsuda's ever increasing discomfort with it all, he turned his bulging eyes on him. "Is there a problem?"

"Uh, L…this isn't like last time. The isn't a case that the Task Force is handling, this isn't my job so…the Chief…"

L nodded slowly. "Yagami-san will be spoken to by Watari. I would do it myself, but…he made it quite clear what he thought of me after it happened and…I do not wish to be in contact with any man who could say such horrible things about his own firstborn child. Even if that child was…what Light was."

"It will all be explained away within the next twenty minutes, . There is no need for you to worry." Donning his coat and hat, Watari stepped out of the apartment and vanished into the city back towards the Police Station.

"Considering that this _is _Matsuda, he probably fell down the White Rabbit's hole into wonderland!" Aizawa grumbled after 45 minutes had passed and the young officer had failed to return. "Do you think we should file a missing persons report?"

"Don't bother with that idiot." Ide replied without looking up from his computer.

"That Shinjin had better be tied down to a chair in some abandoned warehouse or bleeding out on an alley floor, because otherwise Soichiro is going to fire him." Mogi said, his normally stoic demeanor beginning to succumb to the first signs of worry. "Ever since Light he's been cracking down hard on everyone, his own family included."

"Mr. Matsuda will not be being fired today, nor has he been kidnaped or injured in anyway." Looking up, the former Kira Case worker's eyes went wide in surprise.

"Watari!?"

"Good evening, gentlemen." The old man replied, docking his hat. "May I speak with Soichiro?"

"He's in his office." Again, Ide did not tear his attention away from what he had been doing. Watari moved passed them all and crossed the Task Force floor before entering into the office of the Chief of Police and the Assistant Director of the NPA. Soichiro's light brown eyes-eyes that his now deceased son had inherited-had hardened and grown cold since the truth of Light's deeds as Kira had come out. Raising his head at the sound of the other's entrance, L's guardian was met with the sight of an expressionless face carved from solid ice.

"Watari." The voice was almost toneless.

"Good Evening, Yagami-san." The old man replied politely. "Mr. Touta Matsuda has been recruited by L to aid him in dealing with the recent string of crimes attributed to the group referring to themselves as Ouroborus. He asked that you be informed of his whereabouts and activities; if you have any objections something can be worked out with L regarding-."

"I have no desire to ever come into contact with L again!" Anger flared through in his voice. "As long as Matsuda will return immediately to his work here upon the conclusion of whatever flight of fancy that 'Ryuuzaki' sees fit to embark upon I have no objections. Now, if you would be so kind as to leave the station house immediately, I have work to do."

Fukuoka, capital of the Fukuoka Prefecture on the island of Kyushu, was an enormous sprawling city of big buildings and bright lights. It had been a fight to get Watari to allow him to go free without supervision but now, finally, a full week after arriving in the city, he'd managed-in a rather Light-like manner-to weedle his way into getting what he wanted. It was the first time since the conclusion of the Kira case that he was out working in public and, if he were to be completely honest, L was being far from cautious. He didn't care to hide his face and cover behind a computer screen any longer; there was nothing left in his life with enough meaning to make it worth living, though that didn't neccessarilly translate to a want to die either as he knew that he wouldn't see Light again either way, and so when he found himself pursued he wasted no time in plotting his escape. But naturally, true to form in not knowing where to go or what he was doing, he soon found himself cornered in an alleyway by a small gang of men rapidly approaching him with lead pipes and bike chains.

"So this is the great 'L'!" Their leader jeered, the dragon tattoo on his arm marking him as a member of the Ouroborus Cult flexing as he moved in. "Destroyer of Lord Kira! You'll pay for his fall in blood, and watch helplessly from the ground as the Angel of Death rises again!" He raised the pipe and as he brought it down L cringed, squeezing his eyes shut.

_You didn't know who Kira truly was! Tang! _The hollow metal resounded as something stopped it mid-air; cracking open one eye he found that someone was standing over him, holding out a hand to catch and stop the blow in its track. Someone with copper hair and mahogany eyes glowing red with anger, dressed in a red undershirt and a spotless white suit. "Light!" His dead lover paid him no mind, instead fixating on his attackers. How dare they think to take away his human! How dare they seek to do such a thing in his name! How _dar_ethey seek to resurrect what was dead!

_If they desire Kira's return, then let them eat cake! _He thought menacingly. "Kira was dead! You should have left him that way!" As L watched in shock claws sprouted from the tips of graceful fingers; ripping the improvised weapon out of the other's grasp he brought the clawed one forward in a powerful strike. He didn't touch him-L distinctly saw the deadly talons pass a hair's breadth away from coming into contact with the other's chest-yet at the same time they seemed to meet with a mysterious resistance that they sheered through like a knife through wet paper. With a pig-like squeal the pack leader clutched at his desk and crumpled to the ground, entirely unharmed and yet somehow deader than a door nail. What was going on? The attacker's fellows seemed to be just as confused as he was; they were stunned into motionlessness, leaving them as easy prey for the angered…what had the young man before him become anyway? The only thing he could think of was, quite bluntly, a Kira. Once the last of their attackers had been dispatched, Light finally transferred his attention to L; as the familiar eyes fell on him he found himself afraid. "Lawliet, I…regret that you had to see that."

There was so much that he wanted to say to him. So much that he wanted to ask. But all at once everything but his fear deserted him and he choked out "what did you do?"

"I no longer need a name and a face to kill, but I do need to be in close quarters. I can see Aether, or Aura; life force, if you will; I severed it from them. A fitting punishment for thinking to restore that which should never have come to be at all. But nowhere near enough to reconcile the mistake that they made in seeking to do harm to you. You are _mine_ Lawliet, and I will kill anyone who thinks it in their power to take you from me!"

"What…are you Light? Are you a Shinigami now?"

This question seemed to give the other man a great deal of amusement. "No, I'm not a Shinigami," Light told him. "I'm your Guardian Angel."


	7. Explinations

Chapter Six: Explinations

After bidding him to follow Light hadn't spoken another word to him, and that was how L found himself walking down the street to some unknown destination and shooting glares that were becoming more and more angry at a being he felt quite sure that no one else on the street around him could see. _I probably look like a demented mental ward escapee! _But he was too upset at the moment-and getting angrier with each passing second-to care. His self-proclaimed Guardian Angel lead him into a small house and from there into a sitting room before at last speaking to him again.

"Suwate kudasai," he gestured to a chair but L refused to do anything that this creature told him to! How was he supposed to know that it really was Light? That it really was an Angel? He could be Kira the Shinigami, or some Demon from the deepest pits of Hell come to torment him, or just a product of his own mind spiraling downwards into a deep dark pit of depressed hallucinations. The Light Yagami look alike didn't move from his position either. "Lawliet, I realize that you're upset with me-."

"Upset with you?" L's control finally imploded. "_**UPSET? I'M MORE THAN UPSET! YOU KILLED YOURSELF; COMITTED SUICIDE RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME! YOU DIED AND YOU TOOK EVERYTHING THAT MATTERED TO ME WITH YOU, AND NOW YOU JUST EXPECT TO WALTZ BACK INTO MY LIFE ALMOST TWO YEARS LATER AND EXPECT ME TO ACT LIKE NOTHING EVER HAPPENED! ACT LIKE MY HEART WASN'T TORN OUT OF MY CHEST AND SHATTERED TO PIECES! ACT LIKE I HAVEN'T NOTICED THE COLORLESS CHILL THAT THE WORLD BECAME AT YOUR LOSS! ACT LIKE I HAVEN'T BEEN CALLING YOUR YOU! HAVEN'T BEEN BEGGING FOR SOME SORT OF SIGN AS I CRIED MYSELF TO SLEEP NIGHT AFTER NIGHT FOR MONTHS! AND YOU'RE TELLING ME THAT YOU'VE BEEN WATCHING THE WHOLE TIME AND YET YOU STILL DIDN'T SO MUCH AS LIFT A FINGER! WHERE WERE YOU!"**_ He collapsed to his knees in a fit of tears, strength expended as everything that he had kept bottled up inside him since that horrible night fled his being to leave him hollow. A soft creak of floorboards as footsteps came towards him; then, all at once, he was being drawn into the embrace of strong arms. So familiar. So missed. And then he knew that it really was _his_ Light, and that-if he would just stay this time-it would all turn out to be OK."

"Did you think that I enjoyed having to cause you so much pain? Of course not!" He soothed him softly. "I did what I had to to protect you. Only threads of Light Yagami-and rapidly fraying ones at that-were left to hold back Kira from taking complete control of me. If that were to happen I wouldn't have been able to stop myself from killing, and as long as I lived there was no way to end it all. So I took my own life before I could take yours knowing full well what would happen to me. I drifted in the void of nothingness for…I don't really know how long. And then I suddenly found myself bound and blindfolded on the floor of the throne room of the Shinigami King who told me that, had my fate unfolded as it was meant to and Kira taken over before I died, then I would have become one of his Shinigami. Instead, because of my selfless sacrifice, I was lifted into Heaven and transformed into an Angel. I was told that I could choose any rank that I wished; a Principality, a Throne, even a Seraphim. I chose to be a Guardian because I wanted to be able to protect you. But I couldn't just appear before you, Lawliet. I wanted to. You have no idea how badly that I wanted to go to you right away and take you in my arms and kiss you until you didn't know the difference between up and down anymore, but I couldn't! It was against the Council's rules; the laws of Heaven. I couldn't appear to you unless you really needed me. But I've always been here."

"You won't leave me again, will you Light?" He whimpered. _Just promise you'll stay and I won't be angry._

"I won't leave you unless you want me to," Light drew back far enough to look at him, his expression anxious. "You don't, do you?"

L latched onto him tightly, all but ripping the white suit jacket off of his limber frame and throwing it onto the floor. Buttons exploded off of his red shirt and clattered against the wood, scattering in all directions as he stripped him almost violently of that as well, hands roving over the contours of the other's hairless chest to viscously tear the slacks and boxers down and all the while not feeling the least bit guilty for the destruction that he was reeking on Light's clothes. The other didn't protest; quite the opposite. He lay back on the floor and spread his legs to allow his partner to settle between them. L stopped to gaze down at him and found Light smouldering up at him from the floor, waiting patiently for their familiar ritual to begin.

"Your wings…can I…?" he trailed off hesitantly; Light fluttered them gently against the wood with an enticing smile and nodded. Longer fingers traced delicately over the soft feathers, he gasped as a powerful shudder passed through him. "They're beautiful," he continued stroking the feathers as he bent forwards to claim the sweet mouth, than move downwards to suck on the neck and nip at his collar bone, making the other man. He entered without preparation or lubrication of any kind, going slowly but still feeling enormous guilt for the pain that was clear on the other's face even though it quickly disappeared into rapture. Sounds that were really quite sinful began to issue from the parted rosy lips as his back arched and his hips rose up to meet the others and his wings flopped against the floor, made boneless by the pleasure of it all as white stars burst before his eyes and the warmth of the other's seed filled him. For a long while they lay together on the cold floor with L's head resting against Light's chest and his wings curled around them both like a satin blanket. Within a matter of moments L was asleep. Hours passed, then Light carefully removed himself from beneath the others, picked him up off the floor and carried him through the house to the bed. He knew that the others would come after them soon and understood full well that it would not do at all to be found in such a situation.

"L is missing!" He's been gone for hours, and should have gone back a long time ago!" Mello announced loudly. "He should never have been allowed to go out alone! He'll end up getting himself killed; unlike us, he doesn't know his ass from his elbow when it comes to the outside world!"

"He's right," Gevanni said in his quiet but intense voice. "Watari, can you track his phone?"

"Of course." The old man was more worried about his charge than any of the others. None of them, even Matsuda, had witnessed the true devistation left behind by Light's loss. Typing commands into the computer, he frowned in concern. "His cellphone has been pinging from a building near the edge of the city for the past six hours without moving."

"Do you think he could have been kidnapped by members of the Ouroborus?" Matsuda squeaked.

"Either way, we need to go after him. Now!" Lidner said.

"We should go armed; we have no idea who or what could be waiting for us." Rester growled. "I don't think that full riot gear is necessary, but bullet proof vests are a must in any situation where there is risk of a fire fight."

"This way," Watari said calmly. "Let's not waste any time."

Hurrying out of the apartment with their gear, they all piled into their cars and took off across the city at speed, sirens off to prevent from alerting whoever lay in wait for them of their approach. They found that the 'building' was in fact a small house the likes of which a family of three would call home; a little garden and a well kempt yard fenced in my a traditional gate. The windows were dark, as if the occupants were all asleep. No signs of life issued from within.

"Alright," Gevanni took charge, "we're going to go in quickly and quietly through the front door. Near, you remain here in the car with Watari in case anyone attempts to escape out of the front. Mello, Matt, you two go around back to make sure that no one makes a break for it that way either. Rester, Lidner take the bottom floor. Matsuda, you're with me on the second. Let's go." They crept quickly across the open yard and slipped inside through the unlocked door. Up the stairs, being careful not to let them creak. Gevanni went down the hall in one direction and Matsuda took the other, quickly finding his way into a bedroom. The curtains of the window were open, a soft spring breeze filtering inside along with a thick shaft of moonlight that fell across a large bed. Swathed in a thick satin and velvet comforter stained the deep red of blood was L, his head resting in the lap of another young man, who was petting his hair in much the same manner as one would a cat's fur and sat on the edge of the matress with his back turned to him dressed in a silver-green sweater and a pair of khakis. Recognizing who it was even while only being able to see the back of his caramel-colored head, Matsuda dropped his gun with a load clatter.

"Kami!" He squawked, paling. "Light-kun!"

As footsteps came running at his shout, the young man gently removed the detective's head from his lap before rising to his feet and turning to face him. He hadn't aged a moment since the day that he had died. "Matsuda," he smiled, a crescent flash of perfect milky white. "Konbanwa. It's good to see you again."

"You _know _this man Touta?" Lidner demanded, pushing passed Gevanni and Rester who had come to stand behind him.

"Yeah, I know him." Matsuda responded. "This is Light Yagami, the son of my boss. He's been dead for almost two years; committed suicide at the close of the Kira case. He was…he was Kira."

"I thought I was doing what was right, but-despite being a genius with an IQ of over 170-I failed to see how wrong I was. But I think we all know what they say; Jigokuhenomichi wa zen'I de hosō sa rete imasu, the road to Hell is paved with good intentions. But that's all water under the bridge; the Kira case is over, and so is my life as a Human."

"So…at the graveyard…the candle…that was you?"

Light nodded. "Hai. I guess you could say that I've been…hanging around. Dads…hell. He's gone to Hell. And it's my fault."

"I hate to interrupt your mushy reunion, but you-Kira-need to put your hands on your head and face the wall." Gevanni moved into the room with his gun aimed at Light's head. "Don't make me shoot you."

"Kowai." Light simpered sarcastically, but did as he was told. He knew that bullets couldn't harm him anymore, but he didn't want deadly metal projectiles flying around within a hundred feet of L. "If you want to check his pulse, feel free. Just don't wake him up, and don't pull off the covers. We got a bit carried away and, well…let's just say that I'm only dressed because I don't need to sleep anymore."

"You mean you…" Lidner sounded shocked, her face turning pink. "How does that even work, you're a ghost!"

"Yūrei? Iie, iie! Watashi was Tenshida." He grinned crookedly. "I'm an Angel."

"An Angel of Death." Rester grumbled as he moved forward to check and make sure that L was still breathing.

"Humans!" Light snorted. "If it's inhuman, transcends the spiritual plane and has wings than it has to be an Angel! No! 'Angels of Destruction' are Demons. 'Angels of Death' are Shinigami! I'm an _Angel_ Angel, you know like the real thing. From Heaven." With a second, much haughtier grin he added "I used to make the same mistakes too."

"He's fine." Rester piped up before turning his attention to Light as well. "Now the only question is what to do with him."

"Perhaps stop training your guns? Bullets won't do anything to me, but they could hurt Lawliet and if any harm comes to him then I'll rip your soul out of your body like I did to those Ouroborus goons earlier this morning!" Red flashed through his brown eyes again as he growled, claws sliding out and digging into the wood at the memory. This reaction did nothing to put his captors at ease. "Get Watari in here. He'll explain."

"I'll get him." Lidner left the room quickly and returned a few minutes later with the old man and L's successors in tow. Upon entering the room and catching sight of Light, the worried creases smoothed out from his face.

"After having a part in the Kira case and knowing what I know about the existence of the paranormal, I should have suspected that something like this might happen." L's guardian said calmly. "It is good to see you again, Light Yagami."

"Nice to see you to, now please, Inu o uchikiru! Call off the hounds!"

"I will ask them to kindly put their weapons away, but only on one condition." The old man replied. "Will you assist us with this investigation?"

"Kira is a sore point for me; I regret what I did, but if those zealot bastards want to meet their 'God' then let them know his wrath!" The Angel snarled. "Besides, I am bound to Lawliet as his Guardian on High. He does not wish that I leave his company again, so I would be sticking by his side regardless of your consent Watari."

"I would ask that all of you please lower your weapons. Your new colleague is not a threat."

"But-!"

"This isn't open for debate! Put them away, now! I will not have my _partner_ shot by my employees, even if your bullets can't do him harm!" It was L's voice, startling even Gevanni into almost dropping their weapons. The detective was sitting up in bed, his bare chest almost white beneath the glow of the moon, the sheets pooling over his naked hips as he sat cross legged beneath them. "Light." The brunet responded immediately when the other reached out for him, crossing the room at an unnatural speed to take his hand.

"Gommenasai Lawli, I didn't mean for them to wake you."

"I've been sleeping too much lately anyway." He said, looking down at their clasped hands as if in fear that Light would suddenly disintigrate and disappear. "Light, can you…go and get my clothes from downstairs?"

The young man laughed brightly. "Of course. I'll be back in a moment." Kissing him on the forehead, the Angel flitted out into the dark hallway. Once he was gone, L turned his full attention to them.

"Light and Kira are two different people; Kira was a monster who attempted to possess my soulmate's body for himself. Light died to prevent that, but now he's back and nothing will ever part us again. And if anyone has anything to say about what he's done," L hissed in a very dangerous voice, "mark my words that getting fired will be the least of your worries. Understand?" all of them nodded, some more hesitant than others.

"What's our next move, L?" Matsuda asked. The great detective sighed.

"One that I'm not too fond of having to resort to, enlight of our history." L said. "But it's an unavoidable fact that, now that I have seen the truth of how violent and far reaching the Ouroborus is to have been able to find me, we're going to need the help of the Japanese police."


	8. Note on Translation

**Author's note: It was brought to my attention that I've been forgetting to translate the Japanese that I include in the story; sorry about that. I'll be including notes of translation at the end of all chapters from here on out. Below is the translation of the Japanese in the proceeding chapters:3**

**Chapter 4: **

**Hai – Yes**

**Yobisute – known as the 'blank honorific' it is when you use the person's first name without such things as Kun, San, Sama etc. It is generally used among lovers family members and close friends; when used without permission it is considered offensive, as it implies that one is being looked down on or disrespected.**

**Hitomebore – Love at first sight**

**Chapter 5:**

**Kuso, watashi ga mi rarete kita – Shit, I've been seen.**

**Gommenasai – I'm sorry**

**Chapter 6: **

**Shinjin – rookie**

**Chapter 7:**

**Suwate Kudasai – Please sit down**

**Kami – God/by God/oh my God etc**

**Konbanwa – Good evening**

**Jigokuhenomichi wa zen'I de hosō sa rete imasu – the road to hell is paved with good intentions**

**Kowai – Scary**

**Yurei – Ghost**

**Iie- no**

**Tenshida- Angel**

**Inu o uchikiru – Call off the hounds**


	9. Akira Akiyama

**Author's note – I got a question regarding L's real name; I've gotten both L Lawliet and Lawliet Lawford from multiple sources, so I just went with one of them at random. I'm not really sure which one is his**_** real**_** real name. I hope that helps:3 thanks for all the reviews and views. **

**Translations for this chapter: **

** Sore wa Daijōbuda – it's alright**

** Wareware wa sore ni kuru toki, watashitachiha sono hashi o watarimasu – we'll cross that bridge when we come to it**

** sore ga watashitachi no kyūdesu – That's our cue**

** Moshimoshi – Phone speech(used only when making a call) hello**

** Kin'enmasen – No smoking**

** Watashinonamaeha Akiyama Akira-sandesu. Watashi wa anata ni au koto o kōei ni omoimasu – My name is Akira Akiyama. It is an honor to meet you all.**

** Anatawa Kyakkate iru – You're dismissed.**

Chapter 7: Akira Akiyama

The familiar building where he had spent a great deal of time during his life and even more after his death, perusing the files left open on desks and solving crimes in his head at a speed hundreds of times faster than the Humans who struggled to look passed the obvious-of course it helped when you were a being with intimate knowledge of the secrets of the universe-loomed above them. Akira Akiyama-Light's chosen alias-walked alongside Lidner, dressed in a light grey suit and a pale purple dress shirt.

"So…you don't have to sleep, or eat, or shower, or go to the bathroom anymore and you can snap your fingers and transform your outfit into whatever you want? Just to recap?"

_By God she's obsessed with clothing! _He thought crossly, pushing the square framed glasses that he wore as a disguise back up the bridge of his nose with a heavy sigh. "Yes, for what has to be the 80th time. Now, please, you have to contain your curiosity as to my abilities and _try _to pretend that I'm human!"

"Feel free to remove the stick from your ass at any time, _Akira_."

_At least she remembers the alias. _The doors slid open to allow them into the lobby, where they met with a secretary who pointed them in the right direction. _Let the game of deception begin. _Light stepped through the door with the blonde right behind; the room went silent. He noticed immediately that the members of the now disbanded Kira Taskforce were staring at him in wide eyed horror; he and L both agreed that the least amount of disguise as possible was the best disguise of all, but perhaps nothing but a pair of glasses was a little scanty. Then again, when you were supposed to be dead… "May we speak with Yagami Soichiro please?"

"In his office," one of the cops whose name he didn't know answered.

"Thank you," wading through the lingering stares up to his waist, Light took a deep breath and pushed open the door to the office of the Father who no longer considered him a son and braced for what was sure to be an interesting reaction. He wasn't disappointed. Upon catching sight of him, Soichiro Yagami leapt to his feet with a mixture of terror and anger on his face.

"You…but…you can't…Raito…!" He spluttered, then finally settled for "who the Hell are you and why are you here!"

_Nice Dad. You're acting quite professional. _"Akiyama Akira." He bowed, witnessing the posture of the man before him relax slightly as he assured himself that-regardless of how much of a spitting image he may or may not have been-the youth standing before him was not his late son. Light gestured to Lidner, who stood at his shoulder observing the Police Chief's reactions with interest. "This is Halle Lidner. We are both currently working under L regarding the Ouroborus cult's attempts to start world war three in the name of continuing Kira's reign. I was forewarned of the fact that you and my employer did not depart on the most…friendly of terms, so that is why I will be acting as his stand in on this matter."

"…" a grimace met his words. "I would assume that I have no say in this matter?"

"I understand that you are indignant at the intrusion, but I am afraid that such means are necessary." Light replied, knowing exactly how to calm his Father from years of practice. "Kira's followers, after the death of their 'God' had no direction. They turned towards the leadership of some mysterious power claiming himself to be Kira's heir who, at the same time, courted the remaining members of such criminal forces as the Mafia and the Yakuza into aiding him. And their following has only grown in passing months, all clambering for Kira's return. L is the best of the best, and we are the elite; all of us have worked with him before and are trusted implicitly. But he needs more help, and as the current appendage of focus is operating in Japan that help must come from you and your men. I hope that you do not have any objections to this."

"I don't have to work with L directly, do I?" the other growled. Light smiled endearingly at him.

"L wishes to work with you as much as you wish to work with him, which is why he called upon me be his public face. Matsuda and Matt will be joining us shortly. When they arrive, I would like to brief your Task Force on exactly what is going on?"

"Of course Akira-san. I'll go and give them fair warning. One moment." He walked out, leaving Light and Lidner alone.

"Are you sure that this is a good idea?" she asked him softly, moving to stand close beside him so as not to be overheard. "I mean…he's your Father and you're alias didn't seem to put him entirely at ease."

"Sore wa Daijōbuda." Came the equally quiet response. "I know how to handle myself around them; I've been around my Father and his team since almost before I could walk. Besides, they can't harm me now that I am what I am. On top of that, L and I are operating under the expectation that someone will eventually figure out my true identity. Wareware wa sore ni kuru toki, watashitachiha sono hashi o watarimasu." Looking out the windows of the office at the floor, he saw Soichiro explaining the situation to his men. "Well, sore ga watashitachi no kyūdesu. Let's go." Together, they stepped back out into the line of fire.

"Is it me, or is that Light Yagami wearing a pair of glasses?" Aizawa eyed the young man suspiscously as he stood with his back to them at the front of the room, making a phone call; if they strained their ears to hear him speak, they could just make out a quick greeting of 'moshimoshi' just prior to the brunet launching into the act of chewing someone-probably Matsuda-out over the phone.

"He does," Ide agreed with his longtime friend, "but it can't be him because Light Yagami, Kira, is dead."

"Gommenasai, Akira-san!" Matsuda rushed into the room still holding his cellphone up to his ear with an oddly dressed red-haired young man trailing behind. "Matt ran out of cigarettes on the way over and made me stop at the corner store!"

"It's alright, Matsuda; difficulties come in dealing with L's successors. They're all a bit…excentric." Light said, turning towards them and putting his cellphone away.

"The 'Lord of the Sass' means that in the best way possible," Matt proclaimed loudly to the room at large as he pulled out a cigarette. "Anyone got a light?"

"Kin'enmasen Matt!" Light informed him tartly. "And might I ask why you've taken to calling me that?"

"You talk with your hips and dress like you're in Prep School."

"…Regardless of how much I may with that I could deny that…" he trailed off before clearing his throat and turning his oddly colored copper eyes on the gathered investigators. "Watashinonamaeha Akiyama Akira-sandesu. Watashi wa anata ni au koto o kōei ni omoimasu." He bowed. "I will be serving as L's public face over the course of this investigation due to lasting tensions left behind in the wake of the Kira Investigation coming to a conclusion. This is Halle Lidner, formerly a member of the American CIA. This is Matt, one of L's three potential successors. I would trust that all of you know Matsuda?" Receiving nods and murmurs of ascent, he continued. "Give respect to get respect. Know your place and we'll get along fine. On to the point of why we're here," his eyes flashed red with anger over the wire rims of his glasses. "After Kira's fall his followers were left scattered and directionless, a serpent without a head in utter chaos. About seven months passed before they came under the new leadership of a cunning individual whose name is still unknown who claims to be Kira's chosen heir. Not long after that, he brought prominent crime figures-those that had survived the purging of the years before-under his wing as well and formed the cult that calls themselves the Ouroborus after the Ancient Egyptian mythology; a giant dragon-serpent whose coils encompass the world as it devours its own tail, symbolizing infinity and the cycle of birth and death. But, where it may speak something to their motives, the history behind their name matters little. What is of true consequence to us is their contended ability to push society over the thresh-hold into a World War 3 of nuclear proportions, something that would surely destroy us all. The cult has a large following worldwide that is only growing, and claim to have an enormous stock pile of nuclear weapons. On top of that, their leader-Kira's so called heir-claims to be the possessor of the artifact of Kira's power. Those of you who had a hand in the Kira Case are well aware of what that object is and what its powers encompass. As for those of you who were not party to it…I won't waste my time explaining until it's validated because none of you would believe me if I tried. Any questions?" his eyes panned over them hawkishly. "None? Good. Let's get to work than; this half of the room, I want you working on the nuclear angle; get out onto the streets, hit the newspapers, surf the web. Divide yourselves up into teams and do whatever it takes to get to the information that we need; Lidner will be overseeing you and reporting to me. This half of the room, I want you working the criminal enterprise angle; I want some of you undercover with the Yakuza, and the rest looking in on recent patterns; Matt will be overseeing you and reporting to me. L has my fellow agents already working on embedding themselves in the Cult, and they-like me-are reporting to him. Those of you who were participants in the Kira Investigation, please come speak with me in Yagami-san's office immediately." He swept off the floor with regal grace, positioning himself before the window to await his audience. It was only a matter of moments before he heard footsteps filing in; turning around, he found that the officers of the law were arrayed before him, whispering amongst themselves too quietly for him to hear. "Soichiro Yagami, Shuichi Aizawa, Kanzo Mogi, Touta Matsuda and Hideki Ide I trust? Good, you're all here." A small smile-the slightest upward twitch of his upper lip to reveal perfect teeth-spread over his face. "Matsuda, close the door."

"Oh, of course Akira-san!" The young man closed the door immediately before returning to his place.

"I was informed by my employer of the truth of Kira's powers. Of the Shinigami Ryuuk and of the Death Note. I must say that, at first, I didn't believe him. Even now I am not quite sure if what he told me was the complete truth, but that isn't important. You know of the notebook and of what it can do, and that is why I want the five of you working on uncovering the identity of the leader of the Ouroborus cult and determining whether or not he is in fact in possession of such an item. Am I understood?"

"We'll work on that right away," Soichiro said.

"Good. Anata wa kyakkate iru."

As they filed out again, the Chief stopped and turned back as if he wanted to say something more to Light but he seemed to mentally shake himself before he could and settled for "and Akira-san, if you would like the use of my office for the duration of this investigation, you may have it."

Light nodded, again flashing that tiny mysterious smile of him. "Thank you, Soichiro." _What was it that you wanted to say to me Father?_


	10. Close Quarters

**Translations for this Chapter – **

** Arigatou – Thank you**

** Yoiichinichiwo sugosu – have a good day**

** Sayōnara – Goodbye**

** Douzo - Please**

Chapter 8: Close Quarters

It was dark in the study where Teru Mikami, leader of the Ouroborus and Kira's most loyal follower, stood sentry before the window looking out over Japan. The land where his God had come down from on high to walk amidst his subjects. The land where the Demon L had attacked and destroyed him. But Mikami and his followers would bring his Kira back in all his glory, and once he had then the criminal _pawns_ that he'd been forced into using would be done away with and the world would be purified. The thought made him smile widely; he could imagine it now, Kira's beautiful eyes-blood and gold-appraising his follower and looking pleased at what he found. But there was yet one obstical that remained in his way, the same vile being that had shattered his beloved Lord's vision into glimmering shards amidst a broken world. The Demon Detective L and his damned hounds. But they would all be done away with soon. Very soon indeed. Let them think that they were getting somewhere, and allow them to come running to their own executions.

Light sat cross legged behind his Father's desk, a cup of tepid black coffee cooling before him on the desk as he stared sightlessly out the window tossing a glossy red apple up into the air and catching it again with one hand. Atop the scene of the Police Force working at their usual human speed-slow-was an overlay of the apartment in Fukuoka, L sitting on the couch with a piece of strawberry cheesecake sitting before him. Near was lying on his stomach on the floor, fiddling with the enormous robot that he'd built out of the lego set that Light had bought for him in an attempt to at least purchase for himself a status of someone whose presence was to be tolerated in the eyes of L's heirs; Matt had accepted him right away, spouting off references to video games such as Icherus, Near-stoic and silent as ever-had accepted his gift without saying a word, but he showed his acceptance of Light by sitting on his feet-yes, directly on his feet and thereby effectively pinning him to the chair in which he'd been lounging-for the rest of the night, but Mello had thrown the chocolate he'd been given out the second story window and accused Light of an attempt to poison him. Seeing to almost sense his presence, L's eyes shifted upwards to meet his.

"Nothing yet." He said quietly. With a heavy sigh, Light blinked rapidly a few times before succeeding in making his vision come back into focus. Nothing on L's end. Nothing on his end. It had almost been a month by that point and they were getting nowhere; the cult seemed to be harder to infiltrate than they'd first thought; contrary to popular belief 'I want to join up with you guys' didn't fly, there was more to it than that. And their shifty, faceless, nameless leader seemed to be either paranoid enough to think he was being hunted or connected enough to know it for a fact. Either way, it wouldn't be as smooth of sailing as they had hoped.

"Akira?" Light's eyes lazily trained themselves on yet another nameless cop as he entered into the office. "Case reports so far." He held out the file for Light to take; he reached forwards over the desk and retrieved it from the detective's grasp.

"Arigatou." He said, sitting back. "Who do you belong to, officer? Lidner or Matt?"

"Lidner-san, Sir."

He nodded thoughtfully. "I see." Flipping open the file he perused it quickly; his impassive expression pulled down into a delicate frown. "Still no progress?"

"He's…more ellusive than we thought, Sir. We've been working our hardest, but…"

"You can't find what isn't there, however I have a feeling that this is there. Only well hidden." Light mused, almost to himself. "Call Lidner in here please."

"I…oh!" The young officer, even more of a rookie than Matsuda was, sounded both surprised and relieved that he wasn't the one in the hot seat; he ducked out before the thought of putting him there could cross his new commander's mind. A few minutes later, the graceful blonde entered the room.

"You wanted to see me?" she asked politely, her blue eyes focused on him.

"This bastard is good." Light growled, closing the file and setting it down. "Too good! He either knows or he's so damn paranoid that he sees L behind every tree! I'm going for 'he knows'." Leaping to his feet, he began to pace. "You and your men have produced more results-even if they aren't the ones that I wanted-than either Matt's men or my Father's. I'm going to reward them for it, and perhaps give them all a bit of incentive; a little competition can go a long way in fields like this one. Send them home for the day; tell them it's my orders that they go and rest."

Lidner smiled at him at the prospect of getting out of the station house and having a day to do as she pleased. "Of course, I'll go and tell them right away. And get you more coffee-?"

"Don't bother, I won't drink it. Caffine does the sleepless no good and I never much enjoyed the taste of the substance anyway." Light informed her airily. "Yoiichinichiwo sugosu." He turned his attentions to the mound of paperwork on his desk as she walked out. _I'll let the rest of them go in a few more hours. We won't be getting anywhere for a while anyway, and I need an excuse to see Lawliet again. Once I finish this paperwork, they'll all but out of here and so will I._ With that happy thought to motivate him, he plowed through the white paper mountain in record time before emerging from his office onto the floor. "I want you all to go home. Now. Take the rest of the day off to get some rest and report back first thing tomorrow; I have an appointment to keep with L. Sayōnara." He walked out without giving anyone a chance to speak or attempt to stop him, vanishing out of the door and retreating down the street from the station house with astonishing speed.

"Here one second and gone the next, like a ghost." Aizawa yawned and stretched and he got to his feet. "I don't trust that Akira Akiyama is his real name."

"Considering the fact that he's close enough to L to be considered 'well trusted' it's probably an alias." Ide pointed out, redonning the jacket of his suit. "That doesn't make him a dead man walking."

"Break his name down, Idde. What horrifyingly familiar word do you find when you take away the first letter?" Mogi, who had overheard their conversation, interjected.

"So he has 'Kira' in his name, a lot of people in this country do. I thought you were both more rational than that."

"We were. Then we met Ryuuk."

"It's probably just a coincidence!"

"I stopped believing in coincidences a long time ago, Ide. And I know that you did to." Aizawa growled. "Besides, this is _L _that we're dealing with. He was fruitloops over Light, and definitely had the money and connections to pull off a believable 'death' for Kira. We don't know if Light Yagami ever truly died or if it was all an act perpetrated to protect him from the justice that he deserves!"

"…If you're paranoid enough to believe that, I suppose it's possible." Ide admitted with a sigh.

"We should exume the remains, see if anyone was actually buried in that coffin and, if they were, check to see if they really were Light."

Both Ide and Aizawa looked at the other in surprise. "I think that's a bit too rash to be our first move. Exumation of remains is ugly, both legally and in the reality of things." Aizawa said. "We should try and get 'Akira's DNA first and test to see if he really is Light? If that turns out to be the case, then we exume the body and see who-if anyone-was buried in his stead."

The other two nodded grimly. "Agreed." They looked up as the Chief rose from the desk where he'd been working and moved passed them. "Coming to join us, Soichiro? We're going to stop by a bar for a drink before heading home."

"No," the other man informed them without turning his head or stopping. "I need to get home to my family."

"Where did Matsuda get off to?" Ide asked, craning his neck to peer around the room only to find that the young officer had disappeared up in smoke alongside Akira, Lidner and Matt.

"He left a few minutes ago; looked like he was running out the door after the other three." Mogi said, confirming his suspicions.

"For the best, I suppose." Aizawa said. "He was pulled out by L in the first place. If Akira is Light, he'll know something."

"You're probably right." They others agreed. "Let's get going; there's no point in wasting any more time."

L wasn't a man who showered often-he didn't go out much and thus didn't get dirty-but he now stood beneath the hot jets, letting the water run through his spikey black hair and down his back. By the time he registered the creak of the shower door opening a pair of warm strong arms had wound around him and pulled him into a tight embrace. He leaned his head back against the other's strong chest, feeling his heart beat steadily against his back.

"What are you doing here, Light? I believe you have a job to do." But the words came out teasingly. The brunet chuckled huskily, bending his head forward to lick possessively at the skin of his neck and shoulder.

"My job, first and foremost, will always be attending to your needs Lawliet." The Angel replied, his hot breath raising goosebumps across his flesh as a gentle hand caressed down his side to make him shudder. "Even when you couldn't see me I was never very far from you. Being half way across Japan from you is almost too much for me to bare. I'm not able to touch you. Not able to kiss you." To accentuate his point, Light leaned in and kissed him deeply, sensually, softly parting the other's sugar-sweet lips to open the way for his tongue to make contact with the other and sweep it into a sultry dance. Pulling back to give his shaking and flushed partner air, Light smiled at him. "I want to pleasure you tonight. Will you let me?"

"Light-?"

"Douzo?" Pulling the other around to face him Light rested his forehead against L's, eyes peering deep into his, pleading for permission to do what they never had before. L panicked; it hurt, didn't it? It had to, from the agonized look that passed over Light's face each time he was entered but…this was Light. His one true love; his Guardian Angel. He would never do anything to hurt him. And if he couldn't trust Light than he couldn't trust anyone. Hesitant and fearful despite everything, L nodded. Sensing what he was feeling through their bond, Light reached up and ran a hand through L's hair in an attempt to reassure him. "I'll be gentle, and if I do anything that makes you uncomfortable, tell me and I'll stop. If you don't like what happens, I promise that I'll never ask to do this again."

"I, just…I want you to, Light. My fears aren't rational." L said, not quite able to make eye contact as he wrapped his long arms around his partner's neck. _You didn't hesitate to give yourself to me back then, even though I'm sure that you were afraid too. I owe you this at least. _

"You don't owe me anything." Light bent and kissed him again, one hand continuing to stroke the other's wet hair as the other roved across his sides and chest and stomach and back raising goosebumps as they went despite the hot water still raining down atop them. He kissed him all over his face, feather soft and pleasant, before moving to his neck and chest, down over his stomach to crouch on his knees. This was new.

"Light, wha-!" His words cut off into a lewd moan as the other's tongue trailed up the length of his half hard member, swirling around the leaking tip before taking it into the torrid moist cavern of his lickerish mouth and beginning to bob his head up and down, reaching up to massage and stroke him with one hand as he gripped his ass with the other; L threw his head back with a yelp, hands winding in auburn tresses to push the other's head in further without catching the delicate and almost undetectable choke. Light applied pressure with his tongue and the roof of his mouth, gently scrapping the skin with his teeth as he forced his tongue into the slit and succeeded in pushing L over the edge. Licking milky whiteness off his lips, Light rose and allowed his lover to have a long taste of himself before turning him to face the wall. The creak of the shower door opening for Light to lean out; L was too busy focusing on continuing to stand to notice was his companion was doing. The feeling of a lubricated finger working its way into him wasn't painful, but it startled him enough to emit a small squeak.

"Sorry."

"It doesn't hurt, you just surprised me." Another squeak, this one a bit louder, as a second finger joined the first. "Ok, that one hurt!"

A soft kiss pressed into the crook of his neck as a third finger joined the other two and they began to scissor and twist about to prepare him for what was about to happen. "Relax, Lawli. You have to relax." Light crooned, nibbling on his ear lobe and licking the shell as he positioned himself and began to slowly enter into his partner's body; tears squeezed themselves from the corners of his eyes but, because Light was taking such pains to be gentle, nothing tore or bled. Once he had slid in up to the hilt, he stopped; completely motionless he continued to kiss his face and whisper sweet nothings in between quiet apologies for the pain that he knew that he was causing. "Tell me when you're ready."

"Move, Light." Gentle, always gentle, the bronzed man began to slowly roll his hips back and forth, picking up speed and finding his rhythm as the pain rapidly dropped away into a boundless sea of pleasure the likes of which L had no idea existed which left him squirming and keening against the cool damp tiles. Long fingers gently wrapping around the reawakened erection, stroking in time with his thrusts until the detective came unraveled for the second time and another, much more intense orgasm burst around him. Light continued thrusting into him, but couldn't last for very long when the other's muscles tightened around him to milk his essence to fill the other. Spent and deboned by the experience, they both went down to lay panting in each other's arms in the rivulets of the shower floor with the now cold water drenching them from above. Light pulled out and L turned towards him, allowing himself to be drawn into the other man's embrace. "You're not going to go back now, are you Light?" he asked almost timidly, spindly fingers outlining the other's prominent collar bone.

"Did you really think that I'd come back here for a quicky and then be off again?" minor offense laced his warm-toned voice. "I thought we established a long time ago that this relationship was based off of more than just sex, Lawliet."

"…I know, Light. I'm sorry."

Getting to his feet, the Angel pulled the detective up as well. "Don't apologize, Lawli." He turned off the water and handed the other the towel to dry himself off before doing the same.

"You'll stay with me tonight though, won't you?"

The other's copper eyes bored into his. "I already promised that, so long as you wished me by your side, I would never leave you. Now, it's late, let's go to bed. You haven't slept in a month."

"Do we have to sleep, or can we continue this with round two?"

"Round two?" Light repeated with a smile and a nod. "Round Two sounds very good to me."


	11. Pink Elephant in the Room

**Translations for this chapter:**

** Izakaya – An informal drinking establishment that many people go to after work where they serve alcohol and light food dishes like takoyaki (fried octopus) and Sashimi (a type of sushi that consists of a piece of raw fish with no rice) **

** Gochisousama – Greeting by waitress/waiter at a restaurant to a customer when taking their order.**

** Karaage – Japanese variant of bite sized fried chicken similar to popcorn chicken**

** Hiyayakko – square of chilled tofu with toppings like nori strips and pickled daikon**

** Ma - True**

** Edo Calendar – Chinese Zodiac; year of the rabbit, dragon, rat etc**

** Nani-What?**

Chapter 9: The Pink Elephant in the Room

The Izakaya was already noisy and crowded by the time the three officers of the law made it there from the Station House. Making their way over to their usual table, Aizawa Mogi and Ide sat down and opened their menus solely out of habit.

"Gochisousama. What can I get for the three of you today?" a waitress inquired brightly. Ordering Sake, Karaage and Hiyayakko they sent her on her way.

"Should we include the Chief in our suspicions?" Ide inquired of the other two, who shook their heads.

"I don't think that telling him before we have definitive proof is a good idea."

"Neither do I…Soichiro…he's changed since the end of the Kira Case; who knows how he would react."

"He'd probably shoot him," Ide mused. "With or without proof."

"How are we going to go about exuming the body if it does come to that?" Aizawa threw out the question that had been weighing on all three of their minds. "We don't know where he was supposedly buried."

"Matsuda does," Mogi pointed out. "It won't be all that hard to get the information out of that loudmouth."

"Ma." The other two answered, and then fell silent. Their food and drinks arrived not long afterwards.

"We should start coming up with a plan as to how to get our hands on Akira's DNA." Ide piped up perhaps ten minutes later. "He never drinks the coffee that he's given; it just sits untouched on his desk and goes cold. He almost never eats; when he does it's an apple and he eats all of it, including the core. We have no idea where he lives or where he's staying, so there's no chance at getting DNA off a brush or a tooth brush. And he never sleeps, so it isn't like we can pull out some of his hair while he's unawares."

"He might eat if we bring him something; take out, so that he can throw it in the trash and we can take it to the lab from there." Aizawa suggested. "It's our best shot at getting DNA without hiring someone to stab him in the hand, even if one of us has to force feed it to him."

"I think hiring someone to stab him would be less suspicious than shoveling food down his throat."

"When should we start work on this plan?"

The three men exchanged glances and nodded in agreement. "Tomorrow."

_Shliff_! The paper made a dry hissing sound as Light folded a crisp seam along its brightly colored surface, swiftly and expertly transforming the mere piece of paper into a snarling red and golden Chinese dragon. He'd always been good at working with his hands, so anything at all craftsy- from sewing the button back onto his little sister's favorite sweater when he was in eighth grade to assembling an origami legion on his desk as a result of pure boredom-was an almost automatic strongpoint for him. He had arrayed a battalion of cranes a naval fleet of koi and the Edo Calendar before him in a rainbow of colors and positioned them perfectly across the top of the desk by the time that Ide came into his office carrying a takeout bag.

"We stepped out to grab a bite to eat and brought some back for you. It's Ital-Jesus Christ!" The origami was, to say the least, impressive in its complexity and number.

"I got bored and needed something to do with my hands; I had Matsuda fetch me some origami paper to pass my time." Light grinned the half-moon smile that he always showed the world. "Italian, you said? Thank you for thinking of me, but I'm not hungry at the moment. You may leave it," Light bunched the paper figures together to make room, "on my desk. Do you have the case report?"

"Right here," Ide passed the folder to him as he set the bag down in the clear space and left the room. Light took his time in scanning the file; no new Kira deaths, but a rash of continued threats about the Death Note-always refered to merely as 'Kira's Power'-continued to be thrown out by the cult's mysterious leader. But the tantalizing smell made it hard for him to concentrate; sure, Light no longer needed to eat to survive but that didn't mean he couldn't eat for pleasure and taste and the Parmesan-Garlicey temptation was too great for him to exist for very long. Tearing open the bag and opening the Styrofoam take-out container to find some manner of highly fattening guilty-pleasure white sauce pasta that he didn't recognize, not that the name of the noodles-or even the name of the dish-mattered at the moment. Excavating the plastic fork he dove in, the file entirely forgotten. Bacon. Peas. Sauce that made him want to eat his fork along with everything else. Had Light not been as prideful as he was, he wouldn't have hesitated to lick the box clean. As it was, he had to restrain himself from masticating the fork for the period of the next few hours. Exiting his office, he tossed the remains of his meal into the nearest trashcan before crisply informing anyone nearby of the fact that he was "getting coffee" and leaving the floor without waiting for a response. Ceasing their chance, Aizawa and Mogi moved in on the trashcan; one retrieved the discarded items before handing them to the other.

"Take this down to the lab; the DNA results should be in in a couple of hours."

4 hours later…

'Akira' had returned with his coffee three hours before and was sitting once more in his office, continuing to turn out paper sculptures while awaiting their case reports. Aizawa stood at his desk, going over information while glancing up to glare at the brunet from time to time; he didn't seem to notice, and if he did he didn't look up. Outside, it was dark and raining.

"Results," a lab tech handed them over before hurrying off again. He flipped open the file as the other two, catching sight of what he hand, came over.

"Well?" Ide prompted.

"L played us," Aizawa growled. "Akira Akiyami is a 100% match to Light Yagami. Our 'commander' is the most prolific serial murderer that the world has ever known!"

"Are we going to arrest him?" Mogi asked. "I don't think making a scene here would be the best idea, not with two more of L's goons just steps away."

"We need to get all of our ducks in a row first," Ide reminded them both darkly. "If Light isn't dead then who the hell is in that grave?"

"We only need a single bone to find out; we can dig it up ourselves. Tonight." They all nodded, confirming their intentions. "Where the hell is Matsuda?"

"Nani?" having heard his name, the young man came over. "Something the matter?"

"Light's grave," Mogi demanded, "Where is it?"

"Light's…why would you-?"

"Don't ask, just give us the damn location!"

"But-!"

"Your former colleague is dead, so it shouldn't matter anyway." All four men jumped a mile when Matt came up behind them, a cigarette trailing a thin ribbon of grey smoke from his mouth. "Give them the information-I'm sure that L won't mind, since the only people being informed of his mourning place have already seen his face-and get your ass into Akira's office; he wants to talk to you."

"…If you're sure that it's ok," Matsuda frowned, but did as he was told; scribbling directions down onto a napkin and passing it to Ide before hurrying away. Matt wandered off not long after that in search of his misplaced hand held.

"Hopefully we'll be able to make out this map," Ide said, glaring critically at the wobbly Sharpie lines rapidly bleeding through the thin paper. "Let's go before it becomes illegible!" The three men grabbed their coats and umbrellas and rushed out of the Station House before anyone could question them as to where they were going. Piling into Ide's car they stopped by Aizawa's house to grab shovels and then promptly made their way to the graveyard in question. The enormous cast iron gate creaked loudly as it was opened; they hiked across flat ground reduced to marsh by the driving rain and then up the slick side of a grassy hill, and there they found the black head stone marking the place where Kira's body was acclaimed to lay.

Light Yagami

1988 – 2008

With you gone my world is darkness

"Let's get this over with before this hill transforms into an island!" The shovels bit into the sopping earth of the grave with soft hisses; working as quickly as they could through the cold and rain and howling wind, it still took them just over an hour to strike the tools against the lid of an extravegent coffin. "1! 2! 3! _Pull!" _Straining against the weight of the waterlogged and slightly worm eaten container, the three men managed to lug it out from within the earth and leverage the nails from the time weakened wood. A slightly musty odor spilled from within the confines of the coffin as they pulled the lid open; inside lay a human skeleton, clad in the remains of an all but rotted-away black suit with a badly tarnished rolex still on its wrist.

"Take the skull; we can use the teeth for DNA and dental records."

"Plus, it's not like you can surgically remove your skull and survive," Ide bent over and dislodged the skull from within the coffin. "Let's put it back in the ground; once we identify whoever this really is, we'll have them buried properly."

"Agreed." Returning the coffin to the earth they covered it up and went back to the car, driving to the city forensics lab and turning in the skull for testing; they then went home to change into clothes that were not soaked through and caked in mud before returning to the station house.

The next few days passed in the same manner as all the others before; working like dogs but getting nowhere as their commander continued to steadily fill his office from floor to ceiling with paper figurines. Finally, in the middle of the fourth day since digging up the grave, Aizawa received a call from the lab; motioning to the other two. Getting up, they slipped out again and headed over.

The forensics lab smelled of bone dust and antiseptic and bleach, and everything inside glittered with chrome and harsh white lights. The skull rested on a small metal tray, staring forlornly out at them through darkened empty eye sockets. A lab tech ran up to them almost immediately upon their entrance, his white lab coat ruffling around his ankles. "You're the officers who brought the skull in for testing?"

"We are," Ide answered. "You have the results on who it belongs to?"

"Hai." He answered. "We ran a mirade of tests, and all of them led back to the same person. I can tell you with 100% certainty that this is the skull of one Light Yagami." He looked up from reading off the clip board that he held in his hands, not seeming to notice the sharp glances exchanged between the officers before him. "Isn't he the Chief's Son? I didn't know he'd died."

"Thank you for your help. We'll be leaving now." The three filed out of the room, stopping to speak only once entirely sure that they were alone. "Akira is Light Yagami, and the body in Light's grave is Light Yagami also. Something is very wrong here!"

"We've already had to confront the reality that the Paranormal exists," Ide's voice was shaking. "I don't like to admit the fact that Kira could not only be living but existing as a creature that we cannot harm, but…it's not too great of a stretch to contemplate the fact that he could be a-."

"He's not a Shinigami, he's something else!" Aizawa interrupted. "If Light were a Shinigami we wouldn't be able to see him unless we touched his personal Death Note. He doesn't seem to have one. On top of that, no Kira Victims have resurfaced."

"Cultures around the world have, since ancient times, believed in life after death. Maybe it's true?"

"I've seen him bump into people and things around the office from time to time, and he's smacked Matt more than once." Mogi noted. "Wouldn't everything just go through him if he was a Ghost?"

"Maybe he's something else?"

"What else could he be? God?" Ide's voice was laced with sarcasm.

"I don't know what he is, but I do know one thing." Aizawa growled. "I'm sure as Hell going to find out!"


	12. A Rip in Heaven

**Translations for this chapter:**

** Sensei – Teacher**

** Watashi wo ataeru – Give me!**

** Otaku – 1) house 2) (when applied to a person) a video game freak**

** Kieusero – Be gone!/ Go away!**

Chapter 10: A Rip in Heaven

The Shinigami Ryuuk had never much liked the human who had picked up his Death Note and called himself Kira, God of the new world. He was haughty. Arrogant. Prideful. Cold. Calculating. Unafraid of him. A total, unrepentant prick. But, to his credit, he was interesting. Kira vs L had been like an action movie. Kira in love with L had been like a tragic soap opera/ tale of star-crossed lovers written by Shakespeare only this time without being centered around some obscure innuendo. Kira dead had been back to boring, so he had dropped the Death Note into human world again. And that was how he ended up tethered to the crazy raving lunatic named Teru Mikami; sometimes he wished he could content himself with card games and sleeping away eternity. If he had, he could have avoided more problems and uncomfortable situations than he could ever hope to count.

"Shinigami!"

_What in the name of Apples could it possibly be this time?_ Annoyed, the Death God turned his glaring red eyes on the human in question who had flounced up to him with the Death Note under his arm and the blood-red eyes that he had traded half his life for flashing angrily at him from beneath a shock of feathered black hair. _Oh boy, I know that look._

"Servant of Kira! I demand that you go forth and bring me the name of the Demon who slew your Master!"

Ryuuk blinked slowly at him, like a lizard sunning itself on a flat desert rock. "I was servant to no one, human. And you would do well to remember that, along with the fact that I am as much on your side as I am on the side of the 'demon' L's. Meaning not at all. You're entertainment to me; a pet, if you will. Just like your so called 'God' before you." He growled. _Your God who took his own life to save his mortal enemy, with whom he fell in love. _

"I demand that you obey me!"

"If you want Kira to be proud of you when you bring him back to the mortal plain, I think you should do things yourself. Like he would have." Ryuuk snapped back, turning away. Mikami was smart, though not as much as Light had been, but he was boring. Had a routine that he depended on, mapping out minute by minute every hour of every day. He was a neurotic perfectionist, and-if one were to ask Ryuuk-he didn't get paid enough apples to deal with what he had to take from him on a daily basis. Thankfully, the man backed down and stormed back to his desk; if he hadn't, Ryuuk would have probably written his name down then and there and gone back to the Shinigami realm to see if Kira had come out of the void yet; it would certainly be an interesting sight to see, the human who was once god-like in his beauty transformed into a God of Death. _I may as well get out of here before he decides he wants to yell at me some more. _Phasing through the wall, Ryuuk spread his black wings and took off across the city. Fukuoka was boring; the Shinigami could still remember the lights and sounds of much larger Tokyo, so he made his way there; the longer of a break he got from the Human the better, he supposed. Maybe he could even find some apples, if he was lucky. As he flew over the Police Station building where he had gone many times with Light, the Shinigami caught sight of a figure standing on the roof who drew his attention. The face was familiar, except for the glasses. There was no name at all floating above the fair creature's head. Intruiged, the Shinigami swooped in closer for a better look.

"I've heard of belfry bats, but roof Angels is new." Light had come up to the roof in pursuit of some time alone; his arms were folded before him as he leaned on them against the railing surrounding the roof of the police station, looking down at the city streets below as a cold night wind blew strongly about him; hearing the voice, he looked up to find Matt standing not far away peering at him from beneath his orange-tinted goggles. "Something on your mind, Light?"

He nodded, turning his amber eyes back to the street. "You could say that; it is entirely accurate, if I am to be honest with you. My past regrets…what I did back then…I've repented and been absolved but the weight of past sins still weigh heavily on my mind and soul."

"Don't worry yourself over it all; the past is passed, you can't change it but you can learn from it." Matt pulled something shiny and red and about the size of his fist from behind his back. "An apple for sensei?"

"So you do know some Japanese," Light snickered, taking it and beginning to toss it back and forth between his hands.

"Just enough to sound mildly retarded."

"Thank you." Light would eat it later; he wasn't much in the mood for anything at the moment. He would have to go and see Lawliet again, and soon; being so far apart from each other caused both to fall into matching shades of deep grey depression.

"No problem," Matt stuck a cigarette in his mouth and lit it.

Light held out an entreating hand. "Give me one of those things, would you?"

"You smoke?" Matt sounded shocked.

"No, but I can't get addicted and it's not like I'm going to get cancer from it. Watashi wo ataeru!" The red head handed it over and Light slipped the unlit end between his teeth, taking a pull and coughing gracefully before acquainting himself with the smoke. "What does this do for you?"

"Relaxation and de-stressing," came the smooth reply. "Don't feel it?" Light shook his head. "Let me guess, you can't get drunk anymore either."

"Everything still works for sex, so it's not all bad." The two laughed together as Light exhaled a cloud of smoke. "How long have you known L?"

The otaku seemed surprised by the sudden turn that the conversation had taken. "I've known of him since I came to Whammy House, the orphanage that Watari owns to raise L's heirs. I was six. I first spoke to him-over a computer of course-when I was 15. This is the first time any of us have ever met him face to face."

Light nodded, still seeming troubled. "I see."

"I know what you're worried about, and you don't need to be. The only person who knows L better than you is Watari, and only because he's raised him from the time he was a little boy."

"You sound like you know where I'm coming from."

"I do," he said. "After all, I'm in the same boat as you except my soul mate is Mello."

Light frowned daintily. "The blonde…he doesn't like me."

"Mello likes guns and chocolate. He doesn't like people; it's nothing personal, I can promise you that much." Dropping the half-smoked cigarette to the ground and stamping it out, he announced "I'm going to head in; it's too damn cold out here for me," and walked off, leaving Light alone on the roof. Pulling himself up to perch on the railing, he resumed tossing the apple up and down in hand with the cigarette still in his mouth; he dropped it only after he had mindlessly smoked it down to the filter; disappointed by its failure to alter his feelings at all, Light decided not to bother with such a thing again.

Deep in thought, he stared at the glossy fruit as it twirled through the air. Up. Down. Up. Down. Catching a familiar and wholly unwelcome sound over the wind, Light chucked the fruit into the darkness of the far corners of the roof.

"Hyuk, Hyuk, Hyuk." The Shinigami emerged from the shadows, his white face almost glowing in the dark night. "This explains why I haven't heard anything of you from the Shinigami realm. I never thought that Kira would become an Avenging Angel; if your soul did manage to escape from the void, I thought for sure it would be bound for Hell with all the murders you committed."

"What lead to my current state of being is not your business, Ryuuk." The brunet snapped sharply, annoyance lacing his voice as he watched the shark-toothed Death God devour the apple in three enormous bites. "I should have known that, if the Ouroborus really did have a Death Note, you'd be the one behind it!"

"Quite snappish, aren't you. I thought we were friends, Light!"

"As far as I recall, we aren't."

"Let's go and play Mario Cart together like we used to! Come on!"

"My parents destroyed all of my possessions! Even if they hadn't and the Humans were aware of my continued existence, I would _never _play Mario Cart with the creature that restarted what I died to stop!" Light spat, his eyes flashing from behind his glasses.

"Suit yourself," the Shinigami floated leisurely on thin air, watching him through narrowed eyes. "They don't know, do they? That you're an Angel or that you're even still alive."

"What does it matter?"

"Are you afraid of your Father's reaction, Light?"

"Why would I fear a Human who can do nothing to me!" He snarled back. "I haven't revealed myself to them because it's against the rules!"

"I know you well enough to be able to say that, with certainty, if you wanted them to know then you would find some form of loop hole in the rules. You wouldn't sit and pick your ass while waiting for them to catch on and figure it out for themselves!"

_"Get out of here you stupid Shinigami! I don't want to deal with you, Ryuuk! You don't possess me any longer, so you shouldn't even be here!" _The furious scream startled the Death God; even when Light was at his angriest, he'd never heard that before. His claws had slid out from their sheathes beneath his human nails, and the sight of them set the Shinigami on edge; Light wasn't Human anymore, and was now more than capable of doing considerable damage even if he was only a low ranking Angel.

"Are you sure you want to do that, Light?" Ryuuk threatened, though still managing to tread just delicately enough to avoid any possibility of getting his face ripped off. "You control whether our next meeting is on good terms or bad."

_"KIEUSERO!"_ Golden fire flared into being around Light's body, hot and blinding and-though it only lasted for a matter of a few moments-was enough to scare the Shinigami off; divine fire was never something that he wanted to mix with, considering the fact that being turned into a pile of dust didn't at all appeal to him. Facing off against Light _and_ L together would be difficult for Mikami, and would doubtlessly push him into breaking routine and doing something interesting. Though, he supposed, he would have to do so eventually, informing his Human of the fact that his lord Kira was standing at the side of his enemies could wait.


	13. Things that Go Bump in the Night

**Translations for this chapter:**

** Nanika ga kinkyū nodeshita ka? – Something was urgent?**

** Sōdesu ka – I see.**

** Mochi – Pounded rice cakes filled with ice cream, usually in flavors like red bean, mango and green tea**

** Megami – Goddess**

** Baka – Moron/idiot**

** Hitoridesu – One person. Used as an answer to the expected question of naninsama(how many people). In this case Light answers before it is asked.**

** Nikudon – A large bowl of grilled meat(generally pork or beef) over rice **

** Takoyaki – balls of octopus meat fried in a light batter **

** Chigau - No**

Chapter 11: Things that Go Bump in the Night

"Maybe he's a Vampire?"

"He can't be; if he were a Vampire or a Zombie or a Ghoul then his body wouldn't have been in the grave!"

"A werewolf, maybe?"

"What does that have to do with-? That sounds like something Matsuda would come up with!"

"Well, we've already established that he's not a Shinigami since we can see him and that he's not a Ghost since he's solid. So what is he?"

"Your guess is as good as mine!"

"Might I ask what the three of you are doing?" the three men whirled around to find Soichiro standing on the other side of Aizawa's desk, glaring crossly down at the white board that was propped between the three of them.

Vampire

Zombie

Angel

Demon

Revenant

Werewolf

Clone

Ghoul

Shinigami

Ghost

"This quite clearly has nothing to do with the case at hand; it may be getting close to the end of October but I doubt we'll be solving this case any time soon, so scheming up Halloween costumes is a waste of time! Erase that board and get back to work!" He stalked back to his desk and proceeded to immediately bury himself in his work.

"Lidner, Matt!" Light shouted loudly as he emerged from the office, struggling with his arms trapped by the coat that he was trying to put on as he ran out the door. "Take over command for me, I have to go and make another case report to L!"

"Right. Case report." Ide grumbled. "How much do you want to bet that all the two of them are going to do is fuck each other. Detective and criminal; like some bad porn plot. Disgusting!" He shuddered. "He's gone; let's take a more proactive approach."

"What do you have in mind?" Mogi asked.

"Whatever he is, it's doubtlessly something evil. And evil things tend to be adverse to blessed objects." He said getting up and putting on his own coat. "Let's go collect some crucifixes."

Light found L Near and Watari already gathered together when he phased into being with a soft _pop _in the middle of the apartment.

"You called?" he inquired brightly, flopping down next to L and smiling as angelically as he could when the detective shot him an annoyed glare for almost causing him to topple off the couch. "Maybe if you sat normally you'd reduce the risk of being knocked off by someone sitting next to you." He teased.

"Light, you know why I sit like this!"

"Yeah yeah, if you don't your deductive reasoning goes down to 60% or less. But I wonder, what happens if you sit like _this!" _L attempted to scramble away from what he had dubbed the 'Kira' voice, but Light's arms wound around him like pythons and dragged him down into the younger male's lap.

"Deductive reasoning at 0%!" It probably didn't help that his squirming around was causing them to grind together. Laughing, Light released him and rolled his eyes.

"I never knew that I distracted you so much." He crooned, allowing his head to fall back against the cushions. "So, on to the point, nanika ga kinkyū nodeshita ka?"

"Gevanni and Mello have both finally managed to wheedle their way into the lowest ranks of the cult, but for the time being they don't seem to be getting anywhere." Near supplied, placing the final piece of his puzzle where it belonged and then flipping it over, spilling the white pieces across the floor to start all over again. "They said that they'll send information whenever they can, provided that they manage to gather any at all."

"Sōdesu ka."

"What of things on your end, Mr. Yagami?" Watari asked him, coming over to hand L a piece of cheesecake and Light a plate of Mochi.

"Thank you," he said in reference to the plate before supplying "we are getting places, I suppose that you could say, but none of them are the _right_ places. They're working as hard and as fast as they can, but…dead end after infuriating dead end."

"Have the Kira Taskforce members discerned anything in regards to you, Light?" L asked urgently. Light, who had stuffed an entire green tea ice cream mochi into his mouth at once, had to chew and swallow before answering.

"They tricked me into eating Italian food-which, by the way, was deliscious so I'm going to have to ask Ide where that place is-and got my DNA off the take out fork. Then they decided to moonlight as grave robbers and took my skull out of my grave, not realizing that I have a paid off source in the city lab because I expected this." Light yawned widely. "They are currently attempting to determine exactly what I am and why I am here. My Father has not been informed of any of this-he probably thinks that they've all been infected by Matsuda's stupidity-and Matsuda, speaking of the Devil, has been kept as far out of the loop as possible. They practically beat him off with a ten foot pole every time he tries to see what they're doing."

"How close do you think they are?"

"Cold and getting colder."

"Then what is it that's bothering you." The great detective saw the brunet go very still; when he spoke, his voice had glazed over and sounded robotic.

"What do you mean what's wrong with me? Nothing is wrong."

"Light Yagami, you can't lie to me anymore. We're connected, remember?"

A long moment of tense silence fell over the room. Then, finally, Light sighed and his shoulders seemed to sag forwards. "Ryuuk. I was on the roof earlier tonight and he was flying around Tokyo and saw me; he tried to get me to play Mario Cart with him. Said his 'new human' was boring."

"You think that it could mean-?"

"I don't believe in coincidence, and neither do you. That's what lead you to suspect me of being Kira back then." He almost snapped, eyes again taking on a reddish hue. "We can't afford to assume that that bastard Shinigami is with just any old Human. We have to assume that it is the leader of the Ouroborus Cult, and that their claims of having a Death Note are true and act accordingly. Otherwise…the consequences won't be good. Mark my words."

"I know, Light." L said with a deflated voice. "I know. But we can't go doing anything rash either."

"I'm aware." But he didn't look happy about it. Light, normally so calm and composed even when furious, looked like he wanted to go out and skin someone alive.

"You'll stay the night, won't you? There's more that we need to talk about."

"I agree. There is."

"I'll make tea for the three of you." As Watari bowed out of the room and Near-having grown bored with the puzzle-went off in search of his toy chest, the two genii engaged in a conversation of low and dire tones.

Upon walking into his office the following night, Light dropped his briefcase with a cry of alarm. A foot thick layer of a white, grainy substance that he at first mistook for sand but upon tasting realize was in fact table salt covered the floor, the desk was entirely covered in cold iron crucifixes which had been nailed into the wood, braided red and white shrine ropes hung from the ceiling as thickly as bats in a cave and, when he sat down in his chair, he was dismayed to discovered that the cushion had been soaked through by what he could only assume was holy water taken from a church.

_They seem to have mistaken me for a Demon. _Light realized, attempting to wipe the moisture off the seat of his pants only to conclude that he would have to go to the bathroom to shift his clothing. _What a bother. _On his way out of the office, he made a point of dropping the sopping cushion directly in Aizawa's lap. "Clean up the mess you made of my office, gentlemen. Now."

"So…plan A has failed then?" Mogi eyed the cushion warily. "Did he touch the desk? The salt and the water didn't seem to do anything, but what about the crucifixes?"

Their conversation was interrupted by Light-redressed in a different suit in record time-depositing a crow bar a vacuum and a dust pan. "I'm going out to handle some business and will be gone for a few hours. Have _all_ of it cleaned up by the time I get back, or I'm docking your pay!" He flounced off with an almost feminine flip of his red-brown bangs.

"Go after him, Mogi. We'll clean this all up."

As Mogi hurried out, Ide turned to Aizawa and inquired "so, Vacuum or Crowbar?"

Light seemed to have a marked purpose as he moved fluidly through the city with a grace and speed that wasn't Human, leaving Mogi struggling to keep up. He would pass by store fronts and stare critically at the posters outside before discarding them and moving on. What was he looking for? **Nobesoba Sea Food Noodle. **Nope. **Discounts on bus passes. **Nope. **Misa Misa fashion shoot live at Kosei Theater. **He stopped dead in his tracks and examined the location and times closely before checking his watch.

"Five minutes? I can make that, it's not like it matters if I'm late." He muttered, taking one last look to insure he was going to the right place before setting off again.

_Oh no. Is he going to try and turn her back into the second Kira? _For what possible reason? Light was surely in a position to destroy them all if he really wanted to, he didn't need Misa Amane and he didn't seem to like her much either not that she noticed. Light reached the theater with only moments to spare and slipped inside, lingering in the back out of sight of the stage. _Strange. _Mogi thought, keeping a close watch on him while hanging back as much as the cramped space would allow. _What's he planning? _He stood there, in the corner of the room, leaning against the wall and pushing up his glasses from time to time, staring piercingly at a point a little to the right and just above the model with a look of animalistic fury on his face. _What is he looking at? _As no one but Misa, Light and L had ever touched Misa's notebook, he couldn't see the grey and purple Shinigami floating along in Misa's wake but Light could and it was driving his blood pressure up to the point of where a Human would have suffered a fatal stroke.

_First Ryuuk and now Rem? I expected this from that apple-obsessed raven bastard, but Rem gave me her word that if I made Misa give up her ownership and assured that she wouldn't be prosecuted then she'd leave and would never drop her notebook again. And yet here we are again! I suppose I shouldn't have expected her to be able to keep her word for very long, considering the fact that she's infatuated with that bimbo for some reason that I will NEVER understand! _He thought angrily, feeling his fingertips beginning to burn. _Calm down, Light. Sprouting claws and spewing Heavenly Fire in a public place isn't a good idea. _A few deep breaths lessened the tingling burn considerably, but the anger was still there and getting worse. _How fucking long is this damn thing anyway? _The model shoot ended, and then he sat and waited through the crowd of rabid fans demanding autographs. Then, finally, Misa left with Rem in tow. _Will you finally prove useful to me, Misa? Will you lead me to him? _

Mogi was just beginning to get concerned that he'd have to abort before he was seen when Light left his position and slunk into the shadows, stalking Misa out of the building like a wolf would an injured deer. _He's moving in now that she's alone? What's he after? _Out of the back door and into an alley, down the street to an abandoned lot where a man waited. A man dressed in an attorney's suit with black hair and eyes that glowed red. A man with an all too familiar monster looming behind him. _Ryuuk! _He dove for cover at the same moment that Light did, watching from behind an empty trash bin as the serial murderer crouched on all fours for a moment before beginning to edge forward once more, getting just close enough to overhear their conversation.

"You promise that you'll bring my Light back to me?" Misa's black eyes were glazed with tears as she looked up at the other whose name Light didn't know but was very interested in learning. Ryuuk was standing behind him, and that meant that he was both the owner of the Death Note and the leader of the Ouroborus. But he had to tread carefully; the Humans were too engrossed in their conversation and possessed of too poor vision to see him in the shadows, but one or both of the Shinigami could and if they did see him he wasn't sure if they would give him away or not. Either way, he didn't want to take that chance.

"Light? That was Lord Kira's mortal name? Befitting." The man said. "We will bring him back, Ms. Amane. I promise you that. Kami will return to us, and after the filth has been cleansed from our ranks he will lead us against the Demon L and his hellish minions! And then, once they are gone, Lord Kira will encompass the world beneath his shinning white wings and bring peace to all who are worthy."

_Come on. What's your name, damn it_!

"Mikami-san."

"Teru, please Ms. Amane. Megami."

"What about…what are the Ouroborus' plans for the future? I want to help you bring Light back from the dead, I'm sick of sitting here!"

Mikami stepped forwards and rested a hand on her shoulder, shaking his head. "I do not want you placed in danger. If you were harmed, Kami Lord Kira would not be pleased. Once he has arisen, I assure you, you will be made aware of your part in our plans. Now," he moved back again and gave a crisp bow, "I believe that we have dallied out in the open for too long. Until we meet again." Light's expression was almost predatory as he watched them part. Teru Mikami. So that was his name.

"We're finally getting somewhere." Light purred to himself, looking more than pleased. "I'm sure that you, Teru, won't be pleased when you and I do meet. You won't get the reaction that you desire, and your Shinigami will be capable of doing nothing to help you. Rem might try, but neither of them are much of a threat to me any longer." He yawned and stretched his limbs, pushing the glasses up once more as they again attempted to slide off of his nose. "I guess I should head back to the police station before someone comes looking; hopefully triple baka have finished cleaning up their mess by now." He set off back through the streets towards the station, his hands in the pockets of the coat that he had on over his suit. The Police Station was in sight just down the block when his cellphone emitted a shrill ring and Light pulled it out, looking down at the number and stopping in his tracks. "That's new." Flipping it open he brought it to his ear. "Did I mistakenly violate one of the laws?"

_Laws? What could he possibly be talking about? _

"Well, I suppose that's true; if I'd done something you wouldn't call me to say 'hey you fucked up so now we're going to punish you'. Speaking of which, how badly would I have to screw up to have my wings ripped off? Or is that just a myth? It's a myth; good, it sounded painful." Light raised a hand to examine his perfectly manicured nails. "You're at Tatami? As in the drinking establishment Tatami? Might I ask why? So this _is_ a social call; considering that it is you, I should have expected that. From the moment I met you I thought you were a bit…chirpy, Zach. I'll be there in ten." Light proceeded passed the Station and down the street through three city blocks before reaching the Tatami Izakaya and slipping inside. "Konbanwa; hitoridesu." Without waiting to be shown to a seat, he made a bee-line for his companion who he found sitting at a table towards the back. "If the only fare you're having is a drink, you sit at the bar Zachariel."

"I already ordered for both of us, I hope you don't mind."

Light shrugged. "Food is food to those who no longer need to eat."

"Agreed." Blue eyes glittered from beneath wheat gold hair as the other Angel smiled. "How are you holding up, Light? It must be hard, being tethered to a Human. I thought they said they wouldn't punish you for what you did as Kira."

"It's not a punishment, Zach. I chose this so that I could stay with Lawliet." Light had to beat off his coat to free himself from it after it refused to relinquish his arms. "Do you know what rank I'll be assigned once I head back?"

"They'll probably give you a choice again, seeing as you chose Guardian which it's a rank; that post only lasts as long as your Human does." A waiter arrived with the food and drink that Zachariel had ordered and set it before them before walking off. Picking up his drink, he raised it above the table towards Light. "Cheers?"

"Cheers." A hollow clank of the glass knocking together before both took a drink. Light picked up his chopsticks and began to eat the Nikudon that had been set before him. "What are you ranked, anyway?"

"Me? I'm an Arch." He replied, popping a Takoyaki ball into his mouth. "We used to see a lot more work back in the pre-modern times. Demons were a lot more active back then, and we had to beat them back almost every other day. Now a days most of them just loaf around, a lot like the Shinigami do."

"What about all of the souls they have to hold captive in torment?" Light asked, blinking at his companion over top of his bowl. "The way I have always invisioned Hell is a lot like the fields of punishment from Greek Mythology; someone getting mauled by Hellhounds here, someone getting drowned in a sea of fire there. And then there was horned red guy with the pitchfork." A loud snort later, Zachariel almost choked on his food; his eyes were watering and his face was red. "What?"

"Your views! They're still so Human that is' hilarious! I'm sorry! I'm s-sorry!" Light waited patiently for the fits of splitting laughter to cease assaulting his companion before speaking.

"What do you mean they're so 'Human'? Don't tell me those are all myths too."

"First you ask me if you could do something bad enough to get your wings ripped off, and then you start talking about the Fields of Punishment and a little Red Man." He shook his head. "You, my friend, are sadly misinformed."

"Then why don't you rectify that instead of mocking me," Light's voice had taken on a cold commanding edge. "In case you don't remember, I'm still technically a fledgling. That means, in the standards of our kind, I'm a child. I haven't learned everything I need to know yet, so stop making fun of me!"

"You're right, I'm sorry. Here," he poured the other more sake before continuing. "You're right; let me educate you. Human souls remain Human souls only when they go to Heaven. If they use a Death Note-baring you, since you are that rare but ever present pesky exception to every rule that exists solely for the sake of making life complicated-they are sent to the Void where they become a Shinigami, and then they sit around in Mu awaiting the command of their King who very few have met; you're lucky-or unlucky, I suppose-in that respect as well since you were of enough interest that he brought you before him. If they murder or otherwise sin badly then they are sent to Hell where they become Demons and do…well, the same thing that Shinigami do these days, sleep and gamble. The only beings that don't normally come from Humans is our Kind. Ithuriel and you are the only two who ever had former lives."

"A Human named Ithuriel?" Light questioned. "I know that they had some weird names in the past, but-."

"You'll get your true name when you take a real rank, Light. At the moment you're a rank-less Guardian, and that is why there is nothing floating above your head."

"I see." That did explain why Ryuuk had seemed so confused. "That brings up another question."

"And that would be?"

"I know that through the eyes of a Shinigami a Human's name appears in whatever language that that particular Human speaks where a fellow Shinigami's name appears in something refered to as Mobius Script. Would a Demon's name appear in Demonic?"

"Cthonic is actually the term for it, but same idea yes."

"What would our names appear in?"

"Runes. They're rather similar to the ideographs that the Japanese and Chinese use, so you should prove capable of mastering them quickly. But there's something else that I want to talk to you about."

"Fire at will."

"Fire. Exactly." How serious the normally child-like Angel had become made Light nervous. "You're sparking, Light."

"What…does that mean?"

"The Divine Fire that shot out of your fingers and scared that Shinigami away. That's not supposed to happen."

"I'm not going to spontaneously combust, am I?" now Light was concerned.

"No, but…your power level…we may have to pull you away from your Human early and rank you to stop it. Only Seraphim, Cherubim and Thrones are able to contain God's fire, and if you have it…let's just say that I can't tell you with complete certainty that you won't explode into flame because this has never happened before, but I don't that something bad _will_ happen if it isn't stopped."

"Should I be immediately worried?" Light's normally stoic face was rapidly dissolving into concern and panic was in his eyes.

"Let's just say this, if you start to feel at all weird…call me."

"Leaving L won't be permanent, will it? I need to know so that, if it comes to that…"

"I'm sorry Light, I can't tell you for sure. It depends on what you become. What rank it necessitates. For that information you'd have to speak to Micheal and Gabriel, but even they might not know."

"Chigau!" Light moaned, putting his head in his hands. "Why can't _something _turn out to be simple for me! Why can't _anything _go correctly in my life!" _Why do I always loose the things that matter to me? Am I being punished after all?_

"It'll all work out, Light. You have to believe that." Awkwardly, Zach tried to soothe the other while at the same time not really knowing what to do. Light wished that L was there. He wanted L. But even L couldn't make him feel better, not now. Not with the cloud of separation looming above them. A separation that might be permanent. What if he got turned into a Seraphim? A six winged being of cold crystal and blinding power. No warmth. No beauty. Cold and untouchable. L wouldn't want him then. Now, Light was confronted by his biggest fear; losing his true love and being forced to break his promise.


	14. Falling Apart

**Translations for this chapter**

** Nekomata – Split tailed or fork tailed cat. A Demon from Japanese folklore that is formed when a domesticated cat's tail splits into two, giving it psychic powers and a taste for human flesh.**

** Kore o toru – Take this**

Chapter 12: Falling Apart

Light had returned to the station without a word, gone into his office, flopped down in a chair and put his head down on the desk. About five minutes later, to avoid suspicion, Mogi returned as well.

"What happened?" Ide inquired. "Where did he go and what's gotten him so…clearly upset?"

"The minute he got out he went directly to one of Misa Misa's model shoots and stalked her into an empty lot where she met up with a man who appeared to be the leader of the Ouroborus. After that, he went to Tatami and met up with some foreigner-he looked like he was American or European-named Zach; I couldn't get close enough to make out their conversation, but whatever he said really affected Light."

"I see." They watched as Lidner and Matt, having seen their colleague's distress, got up and went into the office after him. "Let's keep a watch on him. We don't seem to be getting anywhere with mindless guessing games, but keeping a tail on him might eventually lead us to the knowledge of exactly what he is."

The other two nodded. "Agreed.

Light barely twitched when Lidner's hand came down on his shoulder.

"What happened?" she asked gently. "Where did you go?" A pained moan was the only sound they got out of him; he didn't raise his head.

"Come on man, if something went down you need to tell us." Matt urged. "We can help you." No answer.

"Maybe we should call L."

"No!" They couldn't call L! They just couldn't! For the first time in his life, Light didn't want to see L. He knew that seeing him again would make things worse. Their parting so much harder. What would he think of him when he changed? Cold stone. Blinding power. More energy than flesh. Impossible to look at. Impossible to love. "Don't!" It came out as a strangled whimper. "Please."

Concerned, the two exchanged glances. "Alright," Lidner finally assured him with marked reluctance in her voice. "We won't tell him." Both knew full well that keeping a secret from the world's greatest detective never turned out well. "Can we get you anything?"

Light shook his head, still not moving from his slumped over position. "Alone," he whimpered pitifully. "Please. Just leave me alone."

"Alright, we'll just…give you some space." Matt said, stepping back. "Come on, Lidner." Though still worried about their friend, they obeyed his wishes and left him alone in the office.

Days passed and Light became more and more despondent. He rarely came out of his office. And then he stopped coming out of his office at all. He wouldn't interact with anyone on the floor, instead allowing Lidner and Matt to do it for him. When the time came around to give a case report to L, he would send them in his stead. He wouldn't eat. He wouldn't sleep. He'd just sit there, unmoving. He'd passed almost into a catatonic state when he heard the soft sound of the door opening and focused his eyes enough through his grief to see his Father standing there, holding a bag of take out and a cup of coffee.

"Soichiro," even to his own ears Light's voice sounded dead. "What's wrong?"

"Any one of us could ask you the same thing," he said, moving forward and setting the bag and cup on the desk. "You run off with no explination, come back after being gone for hours and then all but go into a coma. We're worried."

"You mean you're worried," Light corrected. No one else had tried this since Lidner and Matt that first day.

"Akira, you're young. Can't be any older than 20. Working with L…the cases that he sees…the toll it has to have taken on you…maybe you should go and see someone."

"A psychiatrist wouldn't help me." He said flatly. "Thank you for the food. It's been…awhile since I've eaten." A few minutes of staring at the wall later he realized that the Police Chief hadn't left. "You're still here?"

"My son…he died a few years back. He was your age when he committed suicide and…you look so much like him. I guess that's why…seeing you like this affects me deeply, because you remind me so much of him. What he was, what he did…it was horrible. I was angry at Light for a long time; I got rid of all his things and cut him out of all the pictures. I've never regretted anything more than I regret doing that, because now I have nothing left of him." He couldn't really be sure-with how numb to the world he felt at the moment Light wasn't really paying anything any real attention-but for a moment his Father looked as if he wanted to cry, but then it was over and his voice was calm and collected. "Do you have parents?"

_Father. _"I do, but…they haven't seen me in a few years and I don't really think they want to."

"They do," his Father said as he turned and walked out. "Believe me."

Alone, Light sighed and sunk further down in his chair; a bolt of pain flashed through his back between his shoulder blades, making him sit up and clutch at himself with a yelp. Running his hand over the feathery nubs beneath his shirt, he relaxed. Two total, one on each side. _You're imagining things. Calm down. Nothing is going to happen to you. Everything is going to be fine. Your wings 'splitting', what are you a Nekomata? That's ridiculous…Right?_ Getting up, he hobbled over to the door of his office and leaned out. "Linder, please come here."

The blonde looked over her shoulder at him, then walked over. "Yes?"

"Kore o toru," he handed her a manila case folder. "The latest case report; take it to L."

"What should I tell him this time?" she asked, an edge of annoyance to her voice. Had they had a fight, was that what this was? He was supposed to be his Guardian Angel, and yet here he was refusing to go within a hundred feet of his so-called soul mate.

"Tell him…" Light looked away, mind racing for an excuse but coming up with nothing. "Tell him that I'm sorry."

When Lidner walked in for the fifth time with no Light in sight, L decided that he had finally had enough.

"What excuse did Light tell you to give me this time!" He snapped, knowing that his anger at the woman was not deserved but unable to help himself. _What the hell is Light up to? Did I do something to make him mad?_

"He told me to tell you that he's 'sorry'." Lidner replied, looking confused. "Whatever that means; did you two have a falling out or something?"

"No, we didn't. And what it means is that the case report can wait. This entire fucking case can wait! I'm going back to Tokyo _**NOW**_!" Something was wrong with his Light; he had felt a deep sadness and worry and an unplaceable feeling similar to what one would feel upon finding themselves lost in an unfamiliar place with no idea where to go or what to do. He ran. Out of the apartment, into the street without looking and causing cars to swerve and shriek around him, bowling over passers-by and flying down into the train station to cram himself into the first train that he found, for once not caring that he was surrounded on all sides and that people-strangers-were pressing up against him in all sorts of places. Light. Light. Light. He'd lost him once, he couldn't go through losing him again. He _wouldn't _go through that again! Light had promised not to leave him, and even if he went back on that promise L would _never _let him go! No matter what the consiquences were of holding an Angel hostage against its will. Out of the train and out of the station, pulling out his phone the moment that he had reception once again. _Pick up! Pick up! Pick up! _"Matt!"

"L?" the voice on the other end sounded surprised. "What-?"

"No time! Where is Light! Is he at the station?"

"No, he…I don't know where he went. Recently he's been…weird. We're worried."

"So am I." Hanging up, L kept running through the streets of Tokyo despite his out of shape body screaming for rest and his lungs aching for breath and his limbs burning like fire. Where could he be?

_"L" Light looked almost nervous, his bourbon colored eyes locked on his feet, "I'm not Kira, but I have another confession to make."_

Of course! The place where Light had first said 'I love you'. The park! The bench! He ran. And there he was, sitting with his hands in his lap and his head tilted over the back of the bench, traceries of silver tears falling down his face as he stared up at the sky. "Light!"

When he caught sight of him the misery on his handsome face transformed into horror. "Lawliet, no! You shouldn't have come! You can't see me!"

"Why can't I see you?" L demanded, sitting down beside him; Light looked away and tried to get up, but L grabbed his face and forced him to remain where he was. "Light; Light, look at me. Why can't I see you?"

The young Angel burst into a flood of tears; suddenly defensive, L pulled him against his body and hugged him close. "Zachariel…the f-fire of God, I…my wings-s and…I m-might not be able to b-be your Guardian…they might t-turn me into a S-Seraphim and you won't love me anymore!" Images, no doubt supplied by the wreck of an Angel that he held in his arms, flashed through his head; humanoid beings of blinding bluish-violet light with crystal wings, blinding to look upon, faceless and featureless and more energy than flesh.

"Damn it Light, you said it yourself! This isn't just a fling! This isn't about 'sex' or 'gratification' or whatever the hell else empty relationships are built around! You're my Soul Mate, Light! We have the same heart! The same soul! We're bound, not just by fate or by some Heavenly String that renders you my Guardian but by love! I _Love you Light and I will never stop loving you no matter what you are, what you're turned into or what you look like because you'll still be __**you! **__And that is all that I care about!"_

If anything, this declaration just made the other cry harder. Shaking. Sobbing. Hiccuping. His face buried in the warm crook of L's neck, his hot breath coming in swift and broken gasps. "I'm sorry! I'm s-sorry!" He whimpered, clutching at him. "You're right. I was stupid to think…but I couldn't help it. I doubted you, L. I'm so sorry."

L squeezed him tighter, then began an attempt to calm him but rubbing his back in small circles. "It's alright, Light. Stop crying." But his attempts to calm him with touch only made him whimper more. Sharping, slightly louder sounds that registered not as sorrow but as pain; but how could he be hurting him? Then he realized something else. The back of Light's shirt directly between his shoulder blades felt damp. Pulling his hand away, he froze in horror when he saw the pale skin coated in dark red. "Light," L choked, "you're bleeding!"


	15. Kirael the Throne

**Over 1000 views! Thank you to all of my readers for reading this and reviewing:3 I plan to continue updating as much as possible; Spring break starts on the 14th so i should definately get a lot done then.**

Chapter 13: Kirael the Throne

"Light, you're bleeding!" The moment that he said it the brunet let out a gut-wrenching scream and writhed free of his grasp, tearing off his shirt and falling to the ground, arching his back into what appeared to be an agonizing contortion; the sight that met L was blood slicked skin and matted blue feathers, the feathery nubs on his shoulders dividing into three boney slivers that looked to be excruciating. Another blood-curdling cry of bloody murder, Light's eyes rolling upwards into his skull to leave only the whites as he began to flop about like a fish out of water. "Light! Light, oh God!" L dropped to his knees beside the suffering Angel, trying desperately to make him stop squirming before he hit his head and hurt himself further while at the same time not knowing what to do for him. "What do I do! Tell me how to help you!"

"Phone!" Light managed to cry. "Pocket!" L's long fingered hand dove immediately into the pocket of the other's slacks, drawing out the blue cellular and flipping it open; the only contact wired into it was to someone named Zach. Pressing the speed dial button in desperation, he heard and unfamiliar voice answer

"Hello?"

"Help him! Please!"

"I don't recognize your voice, so I can only assume you're L?"

"Yes!" L screamed again. "You have to help him! He's in pain!"

"His wings?"

"_Yes!" _

"We knew this would happen eventually," this time the voice issued not from the phone but from directly off to his right; looking around with a start L was surprised to find a young blonde man with the wings of a sparrow crouching there. "After God's fire made an appearance in him, it was only a matter of time."

"You can stop it, can't you?" to hell with deductive reasoning, all ability to think had gone out the window a long time ago. Light, in pain. Light, maybe dying if such a thing were possible for Angels. And there was nothing he could do to help him through his agony.

"No one can stop it," the dire tone filled him with dread.

"What's going to happen to him?"

"I can't answer that, I don't know." The other Angel answered, lifting the thrashing body of the other into his arms. "I have to take him to Micheal and Gabriel; they'll surely know what to do."

"I'm coming with you!" L grabbed for Light's leg and almost took a foot to the face for his efforts, but the blue eyes Arch Angel stared him down.

"You can't, Human. Your time is not up, so Heaven and Hell both are bared to you! Remain here and wait; he will come to you when he is able." The message to back off was clear. Though L did not want to, he released his hold on his struggling lover's ankle and stepped back; Zachariel spread his dappled wings and vanished, taking Light along with him and leaving L alone.

Light was barely conscious of what was going on around him through the pain that flared through his body and left his vision spotty; he'd never felt anything like it, even as he'd died of a heart attack brought on by the Death Note. He could hear L's voice screaming for help, and then another voice that he recognized as Zachariel's, and then he was being lifted into strong arms and they were flying upwards. Then the bright lights of the Palace of Heaven and the presence of the two Seraphim invading his thoughts. _You mustn't fight this, fledgling. It will only prolong your suffering. _Micheal told him. But it hurt so much that every fiber of his being sought to reel away from it in agony.

_Don't fear what will happen, young one. _It was Gabriel who spoke this time. _Seraphim is not your fate. You spoke of your rightful place when first you found the Death Note of the Shinigami Ryuuk; a Keeper of Justice with the Fire of God. It blazed within you even as a Human. _

The wrenching pain turned into a hot burning and then, all at once with a loud hollow whooshing sound golden flames erupted into being, burning hair and feathers and skin. Filling the air with the scent of roasting flesh and the sound of his screams as the Divine fire consumed his being.

_It has begun._

Darkness swallowed him.

When Light awoke again he was curled into a fetal position and swathed in his six majestic wings; unfurling them, he sat up and raised a hand to his pounding head. His memory was foggy, muddled with pain and fear. What had happened?

_Throne Kirael. _Another voice purred. _You are awake._

L paced. Back. Forth. Back. Forth. Wearing a path in the carpet beneath his bare feet. It had been three days since Light had collapsed in agony, and L had neither heard from him nor contacted any of the others. Watari would likely be worried sick by this point, but at that moment in time the world's greatest detective simply didn't care. He'd had Lidner explain away Light's sudden absence with some almost mindless excuse that very few of the investigators seemed to buy, and was still yet to leave Tokyo. Light. Where was Light. He kept reaching down to where their link was to find only darkness. Was he unconscious? Had it broken? Was he dead? _He's fine! Light is alive! He has to be! _More pacing. More worrying. He'd never been the most patient of people, but waiting for the return of the beautiful Angel was driving him up the wall, making him froth at the mouth and loose his mind. Slowly driving him crazy. Then, all at once, he felt the bond stir and buzz to life again; he relaxed slightly, knowing that Light was alive and safe and that their bond was fully intact. But he was still worried, and surely would be until he had the other back in his arms; curiousity was now bubbling beneath the surface alongside it. What rank was he? When would he be back? Seconds after this thought crossed his mind, he realized that he was no longer alone in the room.

"Lawliet." He whirled around to see him standing there; Light looked almost the same, his eyes slightly more luminescent with a glint of deep knowledge woven through them like threads of silk and an odd golden fire flickering in their depths; three pairs of much larger gracefully tapering sapphire blue and teal wings spreading gracefully from his back; an audible aura of power charging the air around him, an aura that meant protection to the just and punishment to the wicked.

"You're a-."

"Throne, not a Seraphim. My presence is not required in Heaven; I can still be with you here."

"You are,"

"I am,"

"Justice." What was once said strongly as enemies now was spoken quietly as friends. "We held council when I woke, and it had been decreed that that this nonsense with the Death Note has gotten out of hand and that Lucifer and his Shinigami are perhaps more active than we preciously thought; where Ryuuk's original dropping of the notebook that I picked up may truly have been born of boredom, the succeeding incidents are definitely purposeful. All decenters, Human are otherwise, are to be punished in accordance to their hand in this."

"That seems harsh, does it not?" L inquired. Light nodded, but the cold mask that his face had shifted into didn't shift.

"The Law is harsh but it is the Law; unlike the laws of Man, the laws of Heaven cannot be bent to one's end; to us, there is only Black and White."

"Then I suppose I'll simply have to grin and bear what is sure to come, won't I?"

"Their blood won't be on your hands, love. As for me, I already have copious amounts of blood on mine."

"True." A long silence stole over the room and for a long time the two simply help each other without speaking. "What is your name?"

The younger male nuzzled his face in the other's black hair. "Light, the same as always."

"No," L said quietly, "your _real_ name."

The Angel smiled at him before answering. "Kirael."


	16. Scale and Sword

Chapter 14: Scale and Sword

"He's back," Ide noted, "and he's not alone! Look!

Light, accompanied by a troop of what looked like highly disciplined soldiers in plain clothes, strode back onto the floor as if he hadn't been missing in action for three straight days. Reaching the door of the office he turned and began talking to the new comers, looking as if assigning them positions. A few moments later a young man with dark blonde hair began to cross the room towards them.

"Head up," Mogi warned, "that's the one that met up with him at Tatami!"

"He's setting a watch dog on us; you've _got_ to be kidding!"

The moment that the blonde reached the desk he stood with perfect posture and gave a crisp salute. "Zachariah Blare, Green Beret, United States Military; the UN wants no part in a Kira rerun, so the order has been given to put to Ouroborus down with all necessary force. Akira and I go way back; gaining his trust and admiration is as difficult as Hell, so it was with high praise that he spoke of you. It's an honor."

"…" the three man stared at him in an unfriendly and outwardly gelid manor.

"Veterans of the Kira Case, yes?"

"Does it matter?"

"Let's be frank here, we both know it does. It matters because of one word; Shinigami." Zach flopped down into a chair without being invited. "I truly hope that you, gentlemen, are not adverse to bloodshed. Akira is a true warrior; when things come down to it, he's a heavy handed son of a bitch."

"Believe me," Aizawa growled as the three friends exchanged telling glances, "we're well aware."

"Things should be going smoothly from this point forwards, Tabris." Light purred contentedly; it was three days after the arrival of the contingent of Arch Angels, and the two Thrones now stood together on the roof of the Police Station, staring out at the city as the sun began to set once more. "Once we receive word of the hole that the serpents have crawled into, we'll snuff them out with Divine Fire. While we are engaged in that effort, I trust that Ariel will be leading the others on the Mu end of the campaign?

"Indeed she will; those found to be inciting Lucifer's latest attempts at a Coup against our Lord's authority will be destroyed. As for the 'Shinigami King', well…for obvious reasons we can't simply destroy him, but fitting punishment will be brought down upon his ugly head! All according to your plan, Kirael." The other Angel added as an afterthought, "I can clearly see why he was after you. If you had become one of his minions, your mind would have been put to his ends and we never would have discovered this until it was too late to put an end to things."

"Oh Tabris, to a mind like mine it's never too late."

"So they say, Kirael. Having met you, I don't doubt it."

"Matsuda, where is the case report?"

The long officer peered up at him in confusion for a moment. "Oh, uh…Aizawa had it. It should be in his desk somewhere." He replied. "He's out at the moment, but will probably be back soon if you want to wait-."

"As far as our new colleagues are concerned; Akira is off in confidence with one of them and they expect the case report to be on his desk by the time that he returns." Walking over to the desk as he said this Soichiro began to methodically open drawers and search through them; after what seemed like an eternity of unimportant papers and loose pens he came upon a manila case file and pulled it out, intent on looking over before turning it over to Akira. Opening it once sitting down. He was shocked to find that a familiar face stared out at him from a picture printed off of what looked to be a mortician's database; a pair of DNA tests were also contained within, one from Akira and one from the bone marrow of the skull taken illegally from the indeterminate location of his son's grave. A pair of tests proclaiming that his dead son was alive and posing as none other than Akira himself. And then it all made sense. The familiar speech patterns. The perfect likeness. The extroverted expressions accented by hands and hips. The way that the man seemed to know exactly how to handle himself around all of their moods, as if possessed of intimate knowledge of just how to calm them down gained from years of knowing them. His son had died two years earlier and he'd turned his back on him. Now, Light had-somehow-returned, and someone on high may just have given him a second chance to make things right. He had to physically suppress the desire to hunt Akira-Light-down and confront him, or perhaps to beg forgiveness; pulling a stunt like that would not go over well. He would have to wait until Light was alone and no one else was looking of. If that were the case, he'd be less likely to deny it.

"I apologize for being gone so long," L announced as he shuffled into the room, hands jammed as far into his pockets as they would go. "I didn't mean to worry you, but there was an emergency regarding Light. But everything is resolved now; he'll be fine, and is back to working on the case with more zeal than ever. And help."

"Help?" The little metal parts of the toy robot clicked together as Near played with it. "There are more Angels involved?"

"They've become concerned with the continued presence of a Death Note in the Human World; apparently non-human forces are disrupting the fabric of the Universal order forcing the involvement of Heavenly authority."

"Did you pull that out of your ass or something?" a surly voice demanded; looking over, he found Mello situated on a couch with his arms crossed, his expression more dark than he had ever seen it.

"Perhaps I did. Does it matter?" L assembled himself into his usual sitting position and began to steadily make a dent in the dish of chocolate candies set nearby. "I thought you were under cover, Mello. What are you doing back here?"

For a long moment the blue eyed blonde continued to glare at him, then, after five minutes, he finally spoke. "Does Light have a sister named Sayu Yagami?"

"Yes. Why?"

"Because, if I'm reading into their crazy leader's plans correctly," Mello informed L crisply, "we've got a problem."


	17. Author's note

Authors note

I was originally planning to abandon this fic due to writers block, but ive recently received multiple reviews asking me to continue and so I've decided to do my best to keep posting. Keep in mind that I have finals coming up on me fast, so due to having to study I may not be able to post much if anything prior to the 23rd of May. For everyone of you who have read my fic and enjoyed it enough to ask me to continue, I'd like to thank you; suggestions help to make me a better writer and, of course, compliments are nice to hear. :3


	18. Kira, Come Home

**Ok, so here's the newest chapter of Tourniquet; sorry if you think it's short, but as I said in the note prior to this chapter I've been really busy lately with studying for finals. Thank you all so much for baring with me. **

** COMING SOON: Blood Curse – Light X L AU; Self hatred and vengeance are dangerous things. So is love.**

**Note on translation:**

** Arigatou – thank you**

** Arigatougozaimashita – Thank you very much for what you have done. More respectful than arigatou, but refers to more than one thing or what has been done in the past**

** Chikatetsu - Subway**

Chapter 15 – Kira, Come Home

Thunder rumbled through the air, shaking the police building to its core as wind howled and lightning fizzed through the air all around him. Light stood alone on the roof, pelted by the rain until he was soaked through but not caring as he stared out across the storm swept streets below him. So much was going on so quickly, and yet even as things began to start falling into place he couldn't escape the feeling that there was something big-something crucial-that they were missing. He was so engrossed in his thoughts that he didn't notice the presence of the other until he spoke.

"Akira," turning around, he was confronted with the sight of the Police Chief blinking out at him from beneath a black umbrella. "What are you doing standing out here in the rain?"

"Thinking," he confessed, turning away; his bangs had pasted themselves to his forehead and water had pockmarked the glasses that made up the central part of his disguise with hundreds of shimmering orbs, distorting his vision as would an insect's compound eye. The summer rain was warm, but dispite this his clothes-clinging to his body-felt cold and clammy and a light shivering had overtaken him. "The shift is over; go home to your family, Soichiro."

"And leave you standing out here to catch your death?" the concern in the other's voice immediately off balanced him. "Come inside and dry off." Too stunned to protest, Light allowed himself to be lead back inside and down the stairs to the locker room. "Towel."

"Arigatou," Sitting down on the nearest bench, he removed the glasses that he wore and began to swiftly dry his hair; he stopped in surprise when a steaming tea from the nearby hot drink machine was forced into his hand as well.

"Here."

"Arigatougozaimashita." Silence fell; tension-something wanting to be said, but without the words to do so-charged the air as the distant rushing of the rain outside was reduced to a low drone like static on TV. Everyone else had left; they were entirely alone. Light sat with the towel draped over the back of his neck, slightly hunched over the steaming tea with his eyes locked on his clasped hands. His father stood nearby, still holding the now closed umbrella, looking down at him as if not quite sure how to put what he wanted to say into words.

"I found the file in Aizawa's desk," was finally what broke the silence. "A DNA test that they took without your knowledge. After the case…I believe, to say the least, in the existence of the supernatural. So I don't need an explaination as to what you are, or why you've come back. I just…want you to come home."

For a long time Light didn't answer, then he turned away, long lashes down cast as if to hide his face as tears made a bid to break free through his voice, brittle and shaking. "What I did was unforgiveable. How, knowing the monster that I was and still am, could you ever-willingly and fully informed-invite my presence into your home?"

"You're not a monster; your intentions were good!"

"And so is paved the road to Hell," came the soft reply. "What of Mother and Sayu, who do not know of Death Notes and Shinigami; what will they think? How will we explain my return and what's become of me?"

"When one is engaged in a…relationship with someone as powerful as L is, faking one's death and hiding from the world under an assumed name becomes easy." His father's attempt at tact actually succeeded in reducing his son to reluctant fits of laughter.

"Hiding from the world is, arguably, his trade." Light agreed, getting to his feet and returning the glasses to their perch on his face before snapping his fingers to replace his soaked-through suit with a button down shirt and khaki pants.

"Now there's something that's familiar," his Father said in reference to Light's long time favored style, "but I'm not about to ask how you managed that."

He flashed a thin smile. "Even if you did, I couldn't tell you. It's against the rules. If one were to decipher the truth on their own however…sadly Aizawa and the others, though they're quite evidently trying, are a bit…"

"Off base?"

"Digging to China, as Lidner would say." Grabbing an umbrella as it manifest from thin air, he opened it and stepped out into the rain. "Are we hailing a cab, or taking the Chikatetsu-?"

"We may as well walk; we're not going very far."

"So be it," Light made no comment to the fact that it was raining buckets. He trailed slightly behind his father with one hand in his pocket and the other baring up the umbrella, the feeling of lacking something integral returning with a vengeance to bedevil the furthest reaches of his conscious mind. At last the house came into view; Light hesitated on the porch before going inside. Sayu was already sitting at the table, their mother in the process of carrying plates over to set up for dinner. She dropped the plates on catching sight of him, and only a quick but subtle intervention by his powers saved the glassware from shattering on contact with the hard wooden floor.

"L-Light!?" she was staring at him, half relieved and half accusing; finding himself at a loss for what to say, Light settled for a lame and quite lacking

"Hey mom," even to his own ears, his voice was flat, "I'm home."


End file.
